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THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 
IN NATURE AND IN GRACE 

OR 

A BRIEF COMMENTARY 
ON GENESIS 

BY 
JOSEPH K. WIGHT 




BOSTON 
SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 

1911 






Copyright, 19 11 
Sherman. French & Company 



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(g:ClA2S9454 



CONTENTS 



Introduction . 

PART I 
THE BEGINNING OF THINGS IN NATURE 



I. Creation .... 

II. The Creation of Man 

III. The Unity of Mankind 

IV. The Garden of Eden and the Fall 
V. Cain and Abel 

VI. Chronology .... 

VII. The Flood .... 

VIII. The Ethnological Record and Con 
fusion of Tongues 



21 
39 
53 
58 
69 
80 
90 

105 



PART II 
THE BEGINNING OF THINGS IN GRACE 

IX. Grace with Respect to the Individual 
— The Calling of Abraham on 
the Divine Side . . .115 

X. Calling of Abraham from the Human 

Side ..... 125 



CONTENTS 

XI. Jacob on the Position of Prayer in 

THE Individual Life . . . 135 

XII. Joseph, or the Exaltation and Triumph 

OF Religion in the Ind^dual Life 147 

XIII. The Family — (1) Marriage . . 160 

XIV. The Family — (2 ) The Training of 

Children ..... 169 

XV. Beginnings of Grace in the Nation . 177 



p 



THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 
IN NATURE AND IN GRACE 



INTRODUCTION 



INSPIRATION 

It is evident that our interpretation of the 
Bible will depend very largely upon what we con- 
sider the Bible to be. If we look upon it simply as 
a human production among other human produc- 
tions, — a system of religion among other systems, 
— then we shall expect mistakes, false standards, 
and false reasonings, as we do elsewhere. But if 
the Bible is exceptional — a revelation from God, 
and not merely the teachings of man, we shall ex- 
pect to find it a transcript of his character — a 
pure, true, and safe guide in all that it professes 
to be. It is given to man as God's way of salva- 
tion from sin and death. In dealing with it, the 
question of authorship is our first question. 

THE WORD AND WORKS OF GOD EQUALLY FROM 

HIM 

It is much the same with the word of God as 
with his works. Where did the heavens and the 
earth come from-f^ Did God make them? or did 
solid ground come from nebulous matter and that 
we know not whence? If so, then we may believe 
in a chance law evolving an orderly cosmos out of 
chaos, in vegetable and animal, coming as the re- 
sult of spontaneous generation, and man with his 
wonderful faculties and possibilities the descend- 
ant of Simian ancestors. Instead, however, of 



2 INTRODUCTION 

such impossibilities we are persuaded that science 
herself will eventually acknowledge with devout 
adoration the plain and only satisfactory solution 
that a wise and Almighty God created all things 
by the word of his power. He began with a clear 
and definite plan. He spake and the result was 
fitted to carry out that plan, and so is was all very 
good. So we think with reference to the word of 
God. God was its author, and not any chance de- 
sign or instinct of human thought. Whence, for 
instance, came the institution of sacrifice? Could 
our first parents forecast that God could be pro- 
pitiated in that way, when its full meaning did not 
dawn on the world until four thousand years after 
they were driven out of Paradise? Was it a mi- 
grating impulse that led Abraham from Ur of the 
Chaldees, or the call of God to a life of faith 
in the unseen, which resulted in his being not 
only the founder of the Jewish nation, but an 
example to the whole Gentile world! Did Moses 
and David build Tabernacle and Temple accord- 
ing to human ideas, or after a pattern shown in 
the Mount, which indicated God's dwelling with 
men and the way of approach to him? Did Isaiah 
speak of himself or some other man, when he 
spake of the servant of the Lord who was a Prince 
and a Saviour and who was to be exalted among 
the nations, as also a Lamb led to the slaughter? 
Did Daniel speak of earthly kingdoms when he 
told Nebuchadnezzar of a stone cut out of the 
mountains without hands, filling the whole earth 



INTRODUCTION 3 

and enduring forever? Was the Lord Jesus a 
mere man, though proved to be the Son of God 
by his resurrection and by transforming sinful 
men into saints and heirs of eternal life? 

But it may be said these questions refer to the 
great scheme of salvation through Christ. That 
is true. But that scheme and the inspired word 
stand or fall together. The inspired word 
is a part of God's revelation of the way of salva- 
tion, and how it is linked in and forms a part of 
the whole scheme of revelation we propose briefly 
to discuss. 

REVELATION A MATTER OF GRACE 

Our first remark is that a revelation at all, be- 
yond that made in his works, is a matter of free 
grace. God might have said and virtually did say 
for the first two thousand years of man's dwelling 
on the earth and to the thousands of heathen since, 
my works in Creation and Providence show the 
wisdom, power and goodness of an Almighty Crea- 
tor. That the heathen are without excuse for 
their idolatry is the position taken by the apostle 
in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans 
and in his speech at Athens. And then there was 
left in our spiritual nature not only a disposition 
to worship God, but to seek reconciliation when 
we have sinned, by repentance, as the Ninevites 
did at the preaching of Jonah. This was still 
further strengthened and directed by giving to 
our first parents the institution of sacrifice. Fol- 



4 INTRODUCTION 

lowing these guides of what we may call natural 
religion, there were not a few who followed him 
before the Flood — as the sons of God and espe- 
cially Enoch and Noah, who are described as 
walking with God. And after the Flood were 
such individuals as Melchisedec, and Job, and Ba- 
laam, whose knowledge was correct but wrong in 
his practice. The vast majority, however, sought 
not after God. And so God began to put in exe- 
cution a new scheme of revelation by sending his 
Son to seek and to save the lost. 

FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF REVELATION 

The Revelation which began with the call of 
Abraham has been carried out in four different 
ways. First, there was the direct and special 
message to the individual. A second method was 
by a spoken, and afterwards a written message 
through Prophets. A third was by Christ, the 
Son of God. And the fourth by the Holy Spirit 
in the hearts of believers. These different meth- 
ods aid and supplement one another. Thus the 
written word helps us to understand the mission 
of Christ — especially his work as our great High 
Priest. But my special thought in connection 
with the subject of inspiration is the help they 
give to the truthfulness and reliability of the 
record. The written word has come to us through 
fallible men. Can we have an infallible record 
through a fallible source? Some would say, No. 
And we should all say No, except for divine as- 



INTRODUCTION 5 

sistance. Did the writers of the Bible have this 
assistance in sufficient measure to keep them from 
error in fact and in doctrine? We maintain that 
they did. Others allege that while correct theolog- 
ically, they shared with others of their age in sci- 
entific mistakes, and have therefore given us 
myths and fables ; which we are to correct from 
our more enlightened standpoint. It might be 
asserted also that good men, influenced, as we be- 
lieve, by the Holy Spirit, are constantly making 
mistakes, not only in their conduct but in their 
writings. Thus it is said an Apocryphal writer 
asserts that the world can be divided into seven 
parts, of which two-sevenths are seas and oceans 
while the rest is solid land. More accurate knowl- 
edge would have shown that two-thirds or three- 
fourths are water. So one Clement, who lived 
not long after the Apostles and wrote as Paul did 
a letter to the Corinthian church, in the midst of 
much good counsel, repeats as true the fable of 
the phoenix, which was said to exist singly for 
five hundred years and to rise from its own ashes. 
Was this weakness, which has been the lot of good 
men, though influenced by the Spirit, shared by 
the sacred writers? Have they made mistakes 
in facts? I think not, as I have attempted to 
show in the following volume with respect to the 
book of Genesis. 

Two things have been attempted : First, to show 
that no good reason has been offered for doubt- 
ing the facts as stated; second, that any sugges- 



6 INTRODUCTION 

tion of alteration only increases the difficulties of 
interpretation. Notably is this true with respect 
to two leading facts of the first part of Genesis — 
the Creation of man and the Fall. If these are 
denied or in any way misrepresented, we come in 
conflict with our inheritance through the first 
Adam and our restoration through the second. 
The Bible is a unit from Genesis to Revelation. 
But the point which I wish now to urge is, that 
the other parts of revelation lead us to expect ab- 
solute truth in the record. 

TRUTH TO BE EXPECTED WHEN GOD SPEAKS 
DIRECTLY TO MEN 

I have already alluded to the fact that the 
word and works of God are from the same author. 
In the 19th Psalm this thought is enlarged upon ; 
and one of the specifications is that the law of the 
Lord is perfect. The part then written which we 
are prone to say is imperfect, is compared to the 
works of God in the heavens as perfect. We get 
our idea of perfection from the works of nature. 
Exactness is the law in the biology of the universe. 
Like produces its like now, as in the dawn of crea- 
tion. The variation of the millionth part of a 
second is not allowed in the clock whose wheels are 
the stars. To this perfection Job is brought back 
as he suffers from boils, and is confronted with 
the injustice of friends and the seeming inequali- 
ties of Providence. The Almighty points to the 
work of his hands in the animal creation and Job 



INTRODUCTION 7 

repents of his hard thoughts about God and rec- 
ognizes the fact that in his moral government, with 
all the entanglements of sin and Satan, there are 
no mistakes, any more than in the physical. 
When such a God speaks to his servants as he did 
to Abraham there is no doubt about the truthful- 
ness of the command, or the duty of obedience. 
Even when the command seemed to run counter to 
the promise — especially when it said, "Take thy 
son Isaac and offer him up on the mountain which 
I will show thee," he did not argue with God about 
the unreasonableness and mistake of thus putting 
away the child of promise, but goes directly to 
work to carry out the injunction. It was God 
who commanded, and therefore it was right. He 
would make it plain. The Lord would provide, 
and so he did. 

TRUTH TO BE EXPECTED WHEN GOD SPEAKS 
THROUGH HIS SON 

Again God spake through his Son. Is there 
any doubt about the truthfulness of him who 
dwelt in the bosom of the Father; and as the rep- 
resentative of his character and perfections one 
so like God never before appeared among the sons 
of men. He represented the law more clearly than 
Sinai. The morality of Pharisees stood aghast 
at his unveiling of sin. He changed men's 
ideas of virtue and greatness ; laid down new mo- 
tives for obedience, and instituted a code of ethics 
never equalled. And yet he was as simple and sin- 



8 INTRODUCTION 

cere as a child. He made no display of power or 
learning. He was a King among men and yet he 
had no palace, throne or army. He wielded no 
sword. His only weapons were truth and love. 
He went forth as a Conqueror and yet suffered 
apparent defeat. His was a kingdom which took 
hold on the spiritual and eternal. He lifted men 
up into the presence of God and yet he looked 
upon them with such compassion and tenderness 
that mothers brought their babes to be blessed. 
He showed his power over the natural world by 
stilling winds and waves and healing all manner 
of disease. He attested that he was the Son of 
God by rising from the grave on the third day 
and thus proclaiming that death was abolished, 
and through him was life eternal. Moreover he 
begins the spiritual life while we are in the flesh 
and we have the evidence now in our hearts that 
he is "the way, the truth and the life." 

TRUTH TO BE EXPECTED WHEN GOD SPEAKS 
THROTJGH HIS SPIRIT 

A single idea will be sufficient in speaking of 
the truthfulness of revelation through the Spirit. 
How clearly the weakness and corruption of man 
is described, and over against it, the way of faith, 
the workings of different graces, the need of 
prayer and of constant and growing cleansing 
through the Spirit's own divine agency. This is 
really revealed in two ways (1) in the written 
word and (2) in the consciousness of believers 



INTRODUCTION 9 

the world over and in all ages. There is no gain- 
saying of this record and no Christian would 
think of denying it. Notice how full this revela- 
tion is. It goes back to Abraham, is wonderfully 
developed in the Psalms which speak the experi- 
ence of human nature in all its varied moods — is 
especially the theme of the Epistles, and has been 
flowing down in the hymnology and Christian lit- 
erature of all ages. Some would write inspired 
on the choicest of these productions and very 
properly so, as they are the breathings of the 
Holy Spirit in the heart of man. Caution is, 
however, to be observed (1) that these utterances 
agree with the written word (2) that there be no 
attempt or pretext to give any new revelation, and 
consequently (3) that there be no claim to be on 
a parity with the sacred writers who were inspired 
to give to man an infallible written word. 

Let us proceed to show how truth is guaranteed 
to man in the written word. Before stating these 
reasons in detail there are one or two minor points 
that need to be mentioned. 

1. Chronology is sometimes argued about as 
if dates in the margin were part of the text. At 
the best they are only the calculations of unin- 
spired men who have sought to reach approxi- 
mately the truth. These dates vary and no one 
can be absolutely positive within hundreds of 
years. 

2. Authorship where not stated is solely a 
matter of inference. 



10 INTRODUCTION 

3. Some hold that inspiration must be verbal 
in order to be correct. This is, of course, true in 
direct messages and in such passages as those con- 
taining instructions about building the Taber- 
nacle. But God's usual method of employing men 
to be co-workers with him, is to take them with 
all the faculties, original and acquired, with 
which they are endowed. Thus Moses, learned in 
the wisdom of the Egyptians, did not pretend to 
intrude his ideas into the specific instructions 
about priests and sacrifices, but he did dare to 
argue with God about the destruction of his peo- 
ple, and was accepted in the one case as much as 
the other. So God used the poetic genius and 
tastes of David, the clear reasoning of Paul, the 
practical sense of James, the statesmanship of 
Daniel, and even the disobedience and petulance 
of Jonah to carry his spiritual messages to men. 

TRUTH GUARANTEED THROUGH WRITERS MOVED BY 
THE HOIiY SPIRIT 

How has he guaranteed their truthfulness? 
The only adequate and all-sufficient answer is that 
holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost. In a certain sense this is mysterious. So 
is the operation of the same agency in regener- 
ating and sanctifying our lives. Only in this case 
the work extends further, in keeping their writ- 
ings from error. Let us specify the particulars 
which make us believe this. 

1. The intimate connection with other portions 



INTRODUCTION 11 

of Scripture, which we consider infallible. When 
God spake directly to man or when he spake 
through his Son or through the Holy Spirit there 
was only one course left open, and that was to as- 
sent to the truth of the message. No small part of 
the Bible is taken up with what they said and did. 
Those who recorded these things had no motive to 
vary from the exact truth. The Jews would have 
been better pleased if they had conformed to their 
views. And the Gentiles would not have perse- 
cuted if they had suppressed their testimony. 
But they could not but speak the things they had 
seen and heard. And they had a special promise 
from Christ himself that when he went to the 
Father he would send the Spirit of truth, who 
should guide them into all truth (John 16:13). 
Partaking therefore of his life and seeking to ex- 
emplify it in the world, they claimed the right to 
speak with authority as having received the prom- 
ise. 

2. Another guaranty of the truth, was the 
spirit of prophecy or foretelling the future. If 
there is anything in which man is weak, it is in 
saying what shall happen even on the morrow. 
But here were men who announced the time and 
place of Christ's birth, the character of his life, 
the details of his suffering, death and resurrec- 
tion. And while we have the humiliation and suf- 
fering, we have also the exaltation and glory — 
two things so incompatible in the same person, 
that the Jew is accepting the latter and looking for 



12 INTRODUCTION 

temporal glory and that he should deliver Israel, 
did not accept Christ as the Messiah. These fore- 
castings of the future also were not only a writ- 
ten message but inwrought into their very his- 
tory in type and sacrifices and service of the tab- 
ernacle, and in the lives and characters of indi- 
vidual after individual during the centuries of 
preparation. As has been said, the greatest mir- 
acle of Christianity is Christ himself, not only in 
his life and teachings, but in his death and resur- 
rection, turning the tide of human experience from 
death to life. So the greatest miracle of human 
writings is the Scriptures foretelling often what 
the writers themselves did not understand, the suf- 
ferings of Christ and the glory that should fol- 
low. 

3. I add another guaranty and that is the 
unity and harmony of the writings themselves. I 
might begin by saying that there is unity and 
harmony with the fundamental principles of mo- 
rality as recognized and approved by the Chris- 
tian conscience the world over. Take, for ex- 
ample, purity of morals in a world of sensuality 
and corruption, there is not a line of Scripture that 
panders to, much less justifies vice in any form. 
In the midst of polygamy there is no justification 
of its practice. In the midst of wars and hatred 
its testimony is for love and peace. And so in 
the midst of falsehood and deceit, the sacredness 
and obligation of truth is preserved inviolate. 
We no more expect myth, fable or historical in- 



INTRODUCTION 13 

accuracy than we would a justification of impur- 
ity or sensuality. But it is said all literature has 
its myths and fables — ^we say except Biblical. 
And if tentatively it be allowed, it only increases 
the difficulty of interpretation and explanation. 

But let us keep more strictly to the unity and 
harmony of the writings themselves. Considering 
the fact that the Bible includes forty different 
human authors and extends over a period of six- 
teen hundred years this is most marvellous. It is 
not uncommon for an individual writer to dis- 
agree with himself. But here is the great won- 
der that writers not living at the same time or 
place, all harmonize in the great scheme of man's 
salvation. It is part fitting into part from the 
Fall to Calvary and from Calvary to the redeemed 
around the throne praising the Lamb that was 
slain. 

Perhaps the most specious objection to this 
unity is the one urged that the conquest of Ca- 
naan and the slaying of thousands is contrary to 
the love and kindness of the New Testament. Here 
is an appearance of discord in history and doc- 
trine, and which in the Old Testament seems to be 
emphasized in the imprecatory Psalms. But this 
is easily understood when we look at the typical 
nature of much of the Old Testament history. 
In the establishment of a kingdom, the first thing 
is subjection — the complete overthrow of all ene- 
mies. This was typified by Joshua and David. 
Christ in the establishment of his kingdom de- 



14. INTRODUCTION 

mands entire subjection on the part of individ- 
uals and also of the nations of the earth. The 
method by which it was to be brought about did 
not appear in the Old Testament except as im- 
perfectly typified by the peaceful reign of Solo- 
mon. But Christ is the true Joshua — the con- 
queror by truth and love. And the work is going 
on until that kingdom which is righteousness and 
peace comes on earth as in Heaven. So the 
thought is one — salvation through an atoning 
Saviour, submission to him as King, and by the 
power of a motive which is eminently not of earth 
but from Heaven. How wondrous the love and 
patience that has been teaching to man these les- 
sons of the ages. 

I might have stopped here, but am inclined to 
add a word from my own experience. This might 
be duplicated by the experience of the vast ma- 
jority of workers among non-Christian peoples. 
I went to China in 1848, not long after the be- 
ginning of missionary effort in the five treaty 
ports. These facts soon appeared: (1) The 
darkness and superstition wrought by idolatry 
about fundamental spiritual truths. Take for 
example the idea of one God as the Creator of all 
things. Not only was this beyond the concep- 
tion of the common people, but philosophers and 
wise men were in the same darkness. Confucius, an 
eminently wise and practical man, simply ignored 
what he could not understand. He centred all 
duties, both to government and to one another, in 



INTRODUCTION 15 

the family — making our ancestors the object of 
reverence and worship. But the cravings of man 
to know about his own origin and of all things 
about him could not thus be set aside. So one of 
the common beliefs is that of the giant Pwanku, 
who is represented with mallet and chisel chipping 
out the universe from the solid rock. Buddhism 
that came in to supplement Confucianism about 
worship of gods (though Buddha himself was a 
man) and of the existence of the soul after death, 
accounted for Creation by the succession of egg 
from the bird and the bird from the egg and so 
on indefinitely — ending not in a Creator but in 
ignorance. (2) It was a matter of devout thank- 
fulness that in the midst of such darkness and 
ignorance one could speak with perfect confidence 
of a Creator, of man's origin and fall and the 
need of a Saviour. It was a matter of surprise 
that the simple statement of the truth found so 
ready a response in the human mind. Assent 
was given by the intellect, even though the heart 
and old habits resisted. With the hope that I 
could help in spreading the light I went to work 
with the aid of my Chinese teacher, to translate 
Genesis into the local dialect and also prepare a 
compendium of Biblical history and doctrine. 

(3). This work was interrupted by being 
obliged, through the advice of a physician, to re- 
turn to this country in 1857. The thoughts and 
plans, however, had so far taken root that I pur- 
sued the studies here so far as I had leisure from 




16 INTRODUCTION 

other duties. I am glad that the thankfulness for 
revealed light has continued through these subse- 
quent years. The inclination has been not to look 
for the mistakes of Moses, but for the eternal veri- 
ties revealed through Moses. Not that I would 
depreciate in any way humble and reverent criti- 
cism. By all means let men use all their learning 
and knowledge in seeking for truth. We honor 
those who do it, however much they differ from us. 
But much depends on our point of view. It is one 
thing to look upon the Flood as an overflow of the 
Valley of the Euphrates and hunt up Babylonian 
legends to support that theory, and quite another 
to consider it universal and sent by Jehovah to 
punish mankind for sin, and yet hold out the way 
of escape by an ark of salvation. And then I must 
confess that indignation sometimes waxed hot 
when some critics — not all — would pervert the 
simple and graphic narrative about individuals 
and make the patriarchs a story about tribes or 
nations. Why, we can almost see them with their 
tents and flocks, or sitting under the oaks of 
Mamre. We stand by their altars when Jehovah 
was worshipped in the midst of surrounding idol- 
atry. And their faults are recorded as clearly as 
their virtues. And then what a picture of the rela- 
tion of the individual soul to God. See the faith 
of Abraham, the type of all believers the training 
of Jacob and transforming him from a supplanter 
to Israel, a prince of God, and then how this per- 
sonal relation culminates in Joseph with his mas- 



INTRODUCTION 



17 



tery over temptation and in love instead of wrongs 
against his brethren, and in his exaltation over the 
world as represented in his being ruler over 
Egypt. It will not seem strange, therefore, if 
some of us are obliged to say, not proven, to not a 
few of the claims of the critics, notwithstanding 
their acknowledged learning and scholarship. I 
sometimes think they are using the wrong end of 
the glass in looking microscopically at objects 
and divergencies, instead of taking in as with a 
telescope the magnitude and unity of God's plans. 
They say of their conclusions that they are proved 
beyond a doubt. But I imagine the controversy 
will not be over until the Bible comes forth clear 
and resplendent with no apology for myth or 
fable, with no change of history as in Deuteron- 
omy from the close of desert wanderings to post- 
exitic times. We believe its truth in all statement 
of facts will shine out just as positively as its 
purity and complete adaption to the wants and 
capacities of man. When Christ was crucified, his 
friends came with linen and spices to prepare him 
for his burial. They were loyal in their grief. 
They sought to make all amends possible for what 
his enemies had done. But their work was un- 
necessary, for he was not dead, but risen. So the 
written word has about it a living vitality which 
cannot be buried any more than a living Christ. 
We apologize and bring our explanations. But 
are they in accord with the living word? If not, 



18 INTRODUCTION 

they will lie in the grave and be forgotten. May 

the time be hastened when we shall all rejoice in 

the living word, man's safe and only guide from 

earth to heaven. t tt tct 

J. K. W. 



PARTI 

THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 
IN NATURE 

THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS 
OF GENESIS 



CHAPTER I 
CREATION 

1. The main thought of the Bible is God's reve- 
lation of salvation for man. But who is the Re- 
vealer? and who is the Saviour? No answer is so 
appropriate and satisfactory as this, that he who 
provided the salvation is the Creator — our Crea- 
tor, and the Creator of all things. 

THE ULTIMATE AGREEMENT OF SCIENCE AND 
REVEIiATION 

As the main thought of the Bible is acknowl- 
edged by all to be theological or religious, it is 
held by some (as, for example. Canon Driver in 
his "Commentary on Genesis") that its statements 
may be true theologically but not scientifically. 
Driver quotes with approval the remark of Abbe 
Loisy that "the science of the Bible is the science 
of the age in which it was written. And to ex- 
pect to find in it, supernatural information on 
points of scientific fact is to mistake its entire 
purpose." (p. 33). This seems plausible. But 
take the first verse of Genesis, "In the beginning 
God created the heavens and the earth," and it 
would be difl5cult to say whether it is a scientific 
or a theological fact. The few details of the cre- 
ative process in the first chapter might be called 
scientific statements, which some would dispute, 
but when we come to the record, "God created 



m THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

man in his own image," shall we call that a scien- 
tific or a theological statement? Canon Driver 
and others would put it in the realm of antiquated 
science, but a fuller and fairer investigation may 
show that it is true both scientifically and theo- 
logically. If Revelation is from God, the direct 
inference is that what he says accords with his 
character in being absolutely true. The words 
and works of God are both from him, and need 
no reconciliation, except in our interpretation. In 
the interpretation great mistakes have been made, 
but we can rest assured of an abiding agreement 
in the last analysis ; because God is the Creator 
and Author of all that we are trying to reach by 
both science and revelation. The following pages 
have been written with the hope of finding such an 
agreement possible; and the result has been an 
increasing conviction that whenever science has 
attempted to find fault with revelation, the only 
satisfactory solution is to come back to the words 
of the Book. 

CEEATION OUT OF NOTHING 

2. In the beginning^ says the record. When that 
was, no one can say. Science has helped us to say 
very positively that it was more than six thousand 
years ago. The great fact is not when, but that 
God created the heavens and the earth. There 
are two possible ways of accounting for the exist- 
ence of matter (1) that it is eternal; (2) that it 
was made out of nothing. An attempt by Sir Wm. 




CREATION «3 

Hamilton, Wilford Hall, and others, to think of a 
third way , viz., that matter was condensed or 
evolved out of the being of God, is unsatisfactory. 
Its leaning is towards Pantheism, or that God is 
the soul of the universe. God created, not simply 
fashioned, but created the original material. Mat- 
ter in its original simplest form is supposed to 
have been nebulous. Unresolved nebulae are found 
in various parts of the heavens. And in our own 
solar system, Jupiter, though thirteen hundred 
times larger than the earth, has a specific gravity 
less than water. From this and other indications, 
it has not yet attained to an organization as com- 
plete as our earth. Guyot is inclined to maintain 
that in the expression, "the earth (Heb. ereto) 
was without form and void," there is a reference 
to matter in general, and that waters (Heb. 
ruaim) refers to a gaseous or fluid state of the 
universe ("Creation," by Guyot, chap. 6). 

THE SPIRIT THE AUTHOR OF LIFE 

S. Over this chaotic state the Spirit of God 
moved or hovered. Genesis gives the word, which 
occurs only here and in Deut. 32: 11, the force of 
brooding over, as the eagle over its young, and 
thus imparting life. This thought which is foreign 
to any merely human cosmogony, is especially im- 
portant as the record of an underlying truth, that 
the Spirit is the author of all life. We know that 
the highest life, that which links us to God, is from 
above, or the work of the Spirit. So here in the 



^4 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

great work of creation, before chaos is awakened 
into order and life, the Spirit of God is repre- 
sented as brooding over unorganized matter. As 
matter could not make itself, so its subsequent 
forms of order, life and beauty are of divine ori- 
gin. This truth has two significant bearings — 
First as to the record itself. It confirms the 
thought of inspiration. It is an advance state- 
ment of what human wisdom would not have ven- 
tured to state so early in the record. And second, 
science, as long as it confines its investigations to 
the material and does not allow for the workings 
of the spiritual above and over it, imposes a lim- 
itation upon itself — a limitation which makes it 
fall short of the truth. In the revealed cosmogony 
mind and matter are indissolubly connected — God 
the Creator and the thing created ; and we fear the 
scientific will never be right unless the theological 
is admitted to its right position also. 

LIGHT 

4. We come now to the actual work of creation 
during the six days or periods of time. The first 
thing created was light by the simple fiat of the 
Almighty. This was physical light, for in one 
sense God was always light. "In him is no dark- 
ness at all" (1 John 1:5). Physical light is con- 
nected with motion and heat. There is no local- 
izing either in this creation of light. Heat there 
was in abundance on our earth, and a luminous 
atmosphere seems to have continued for ages, not 



CREATION 25 

needing, and perhaps not having, the light of the 
sun until the fourth day or period. This creation 
of light preceded and would be helpful to life 
whenever it should appear. Heat, the usual ac- 
companiment of light, does not cause life, but pro- 
motes and stimulates it after it once exists. The 
living plant responds to light and heat from the 
sun, but the sun has no such effect on dead wood 
or inorganic matter. Prof. Haeckel maintains 
that in its first or lowest forms, life comes through 
spontaneous generation. But Pasteur and others 
have shown that even in fermentation, a living 
germ is a necessity. By chemical analysis and 
microscopic observation, we may get very near to 
life, but we never touch it, much less can the most 
consummate skill make a living worm. 

DAYS LONG PERIODS OF TIME 

The first time period was marked by the crea- 
tion of light. It had been night, — darkness, phy- 
sical darkness, in our solar system at least, until 
this entrance of light which was the first morning, 
and it was called Day. These days had no meas- 
ure, according to our standard of twenty- 
four hours each, until the fourth period. This 
St. Augustine long ago recognized, and called 
them Dies ineffabiles, peculiar days. This use of 
the term day, for periods of time longer than 
twenty-four hours, is so generally acknowledged 
that there is no need of spending time in discuss- 
ing it. 



26 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

Translators of the Bible into heathen languages 
after spending time in choosing the best words, 
often find them inadequate, and are obliged to lift 
them from their surroundings and give them a new 
and higher meaning. Days and firmament are 
examples of what might be called a two-fold use. 
Days are used in a limited and also in an enlarged 
sense, and the other (firmament) clinging, it may 
be, to antiquated science, and yet ready for the 
new meaning when it breaks upon the understand- 
ing of men. 

ATMOSPHERE 

5. The next creative process was the making 
of the atmosphere or expanse; which our transla- 
tors, following the Septeragint and the Vulgate, 
translated firmament. This translation (approved 
by Driver) has given currency to the idea that 
the Bible supported the theory that the heavens, 
in which the stars were placed, was a solid sphere. 
If so it was manifest that at least the lower part 
of this firmament was transparent and the upper 
might be and could be left to further investigation 
to modify. But the American translators give 
expanse as the equivalent for the Hebrew word. 
And this suits the office which the atmosphere was 
called upon to discharge of separating or bearing 
up the waters in the clouds from the waters be- 
neath. It has been estimated that prior to this, 
an enveloping vapor extended some two thousand 
miles or more above what we now call oceans, and 



CREATION ^T 

that the oceans themselves were throwing up hot 
spray or steam from the uncooled globe. 
("Miracle of To-day," p. 64). 

It is not necessary to dwell upon the important 
uses which the atmosphere serves in bearing up 
and distributing moisture over the globe, nor its 
relation to animal and vegetable life. Neither is 
it necessary to discuss whether it was first made 
pure, or was for a time filled with gases, such as 
carbonic acid, which would have been helpful to 
the plants of the carboniferous period. Air, like 
light, has its thousandfold uses, which the sacred 
narrative does not pause to mention. 

6. The third day brings us into contact with 
vegetable life. But before its appearance, and in 
order to bring the world into shape for a habita- 
tion for man, there was the gathering of the 
waters into seas, and the appearance of dry land. 
With the knowledge which we have gained from 
the up-turned edges of soil and rock, this has been 
a slow process. From the seething caldron of 
vapor and steam, the igneous rocks were slowly 
cooled, and lifted up into mountain ranges. And 
then these have been washed down and deposited 
in sedimentary rocks. Again and again have con- 
tinents and islands been lifted up, and as often 
submerged. Rivers have found channels and 
worn them into deep canons by waters more abun- 
dant than now flow between their banks. Suc- 
cessive forms of vegetable and animal life have 
clothed and peopled the surface, leaving no vestige 
except in their tombs, of their former existence. 



28 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

Volcanos have lifted mountains, poured down tor- 
rents of lava. Coral insects have built up islands. 
And as we look at these manifold changes, we won- 
der how long this process has been going on. Sir 
Wm. Thompson estimates that the time required 
from incipient incrustation to its present state 
does not exceed eighty million years. But with- 
out going back so far it has been estimated that 
the time from the formation of the sedimentary 
rocks has been thirty million years. This esti- 
mate is based upon the rate of erosion in such a 
river as the Mississippi ( see Le Conte Geology, p. 
264). These long periods of time, even if we 
reduce them thirty or eighty millions of years to 
ten or through millenniums, teach us this lesson 
that if God was so long fitting up a world for sin- 
ful man — the corresponding fact of a purified 
world and an eternity in the future for redeemed 
man, should not seem strange. 

VEGETABLE LIFE 

After the appearance of dry land, the next step 
was the introduction of vegetable life. The two 
points stated are (1) that God did it, and (2) that 
this life had the power of reproducing itself. 
Inorganic matter tends to disintegration and 
decay. Its highest and most permanent form is 
the crystal. But neither in that form, nor in any 
other, has it any tendency to pass into the life of 
either vegetable or animal. Spontaneous genera- 
tion is not the method, but the seed, having life in 



CREATION 29 

itself and like producing its like through succeed- 
ing generations. One apparent difficulty is a day 
for vegetable life and then after that a day for ani- 
mal life, whereas they were largely intermingled 
for long periods of time. But all that seems in- 
tended is to specify the introduction of each form. 
The changes incident to each, follow in long suc- 
cession. It was thus with light and air. Light at 
first was not localized even in our solar system. 
And the air or atmosphere about our earth, under- 
went great changes in purity and temperature 
before man appeared. So far as known, one of 
the lowest or most simple forms of vegetable life is 
graphite^ a cryptogamous fern which appears 
among the coal plants of St. John, N. B. (Dana's 
Geology, p. 157). We have a right to assume 
that all the possibilities and variety of vegetable 
life down to the fruits and grapes of our own time, 
were in the mind of the Almighty when he called 
upon the earth to bring forth "herbs yielding seed 
and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind." 
And yet it would seem as though there was a spe- 
cial thought with regard to the carboniferous 
plants, from which we obtain our supply of coal. 
The abundance and richness of this form of vege- 
table life may be judged, when it is estimated that 
forests like those of the valley of the Amazon 
would produce only half an inch of coal, while 
there are coal beds varying from four to twenty 
feet in thickness. These plants were allied to ferns 
and ground pines. And of them some five hundred 



so THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

varieties are enumerated, many of them of great 
size — all fresh water plants, but not like plants 
now in existence. 

Another notable fact about coal-beds is that 
they are found in the Arctic regions. This is true 
also of later forests. Magnolias, Hickories, South- 
ern Cypress and Sequoias now peculiar to Cali- 
fornia, once grew in Greenland. The same also 
may be said of animal life. The elephant was at 
one time a native of Great Britain, and his remains 
with those of other animals belonging to the trop- 
ics, have been found in the frozen regions of Si- 
beria. 

For a long time — perhaps until the fourth day 
or period, the atmosphere about our earth seems 
to have been self-luminous and more heated than 
now, with a greater degree of moisture, and more 
or less filled with carbonic acid and other gases 
favorable to vegetation and to some types of ani- 
mal life. 

7. In the fourth day or period, nothing is said 
about any act of creation, but only the appoint- 
ment or designation of sun and moon to fulfill cer- 
tain purposes. Of their existence before this, 
nothing is said, nor of the time when he made the 
stars. The cooling of the earth and the dissipa- 
tion of gases in the atmosphere was doubtless a 
slow process, even after the sun began to appear. 
This state of the atmosphere accounts for coal 
and forest trees of southern climes in the north 
more satisfactorily than the change in polar direc- 
tion, which it is sometimes thought took place on 



CREATION 31 

the fourth day. While light and heat resident in 
the atmosphere were favorable for the extraordi- 
nary growth of the carboniferous period, yet con- 
tinuous light and heat would not be the most suit- 
able for man. He needs the alternation of day and 
night, the change of seasons and of climate. To 
secure these ends the sun and moon were ap- 
pointed as luminaries. At the same time there 
was such a clearing of the atmosphere that the 
stars were visible also. 

OUR RELATION TO OTHER WORLDS 

In following out the history of creation on this 
world of ours, it is not necessary to refer to other 
worlds, yet as we are a part of the universe which 
God has made, there are some thoughts which 
thrust themselves into notice as we read the brief 
statement, "He made the stars also." 

The first is the enlarged conception which we 
get of God as the Creator of the heavens, as well 
as of the earth. We are part of a whole, which 
seems almost infinite in variety and extent. When 
David looked at the heavens he wondered at the 
condescension of God to man. And yet he only 
saw some five or six thousand stars, while the tele- 
scope brings to view from forty to fifty millions. 
And some authorities say over one hundred mil- 
lions. And yet their great number is eclipsed as 
we learn something of their magnitude, velocity 
and immense distances from us and from one an- 
other. Certainly no being is so great as he who 



32 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

made and controls them. Omnipotence and omni- 
presence gain new significance as we think of him 
who "bringeth out their host by number and call- 
eth them by their names."* 

Another thought is that God has the highest 
regard for those attributes of character which 
have to do with moral qualities, rather than great- 
ness or might. Intellectual insight which foresees 
and provides for wants, thousands of years before 
needed, and marvellous power such as seen in the 
creation and government of worlds, are not to be 
compared with the love and mercy exhibited in the 
salvation of men. This view of the divine charac- 
ter is to be taken into account, when the question 
arises, why did God choose so inconspicuous a 
world as ours — a world not visible to other sys- 
tems — for the display of a plan of salvation vastly 
more significant and important than any other act 
that has transpired in all the universe.'* That the 
Son of God should die for the restoration of any 
of his creatures on any part of the universe 
makes that spot, however insignificant otherwise, 
the moral center. Whether it be the physical cen- 
ter is an entirely different question. Alfred Wal- 
lace has sought to establish the fact "that our sun 
is one of the central orbs of a globular star cluster 

* ** In the Harvard Observatory on the Andes erected for 
the purpose of photographing the stars, it is said that a single 
negative 17 by 14 inches caught the picture of 400,000 stars 
and that it would take two thousand plates to cover the entire 
heavens." Dr. F. E. Clark's "Continent of Opportunity," 
p. 113. 



CREATION 33 

and that this star cluster occupies a nearly cen- 
tral position in the great plane of the milky way." 
(From an article in the "Independent," and after- 
wards published in a book.) Other scientists claim 
that we cannot define the bounds of the universe, 
that there is no proof that we are in the center 
and that we are drifting through space at the rate 
of a million miles a day. Into this discussion we 
need not enter, except to say that we assume that 
God alone is infinite, and that the universe, how- 
ever boundless, is finite. Why God has so exalted 
this earth above other worlds in creating man in 
his own image and then when he had fallen, of re- 
deeming him through his only Son, may remain a 
mystery until we have left the body and have be- 
come more familiar with the marvelous works of 
God. 

8. Animal life, or the work of the fifth and 
sixth days. The first thought is the vast variety 
of animal life. The waters swarmed with swarms* 
of living creatures. The air was peopled with 
birds, and on the land were living creatures from 
the animalculae invisible except by microscope to 
the immense reptiles of the carboniferous period 
and the great beasts of a later age. The perfec- 
tion of these organisms in all their minute details 

* The wonderfully prolific period of shell fish or part of 
these "swarms " is seen in the fact that out of the 60,000 to 
70,000 feet of rock on the earth's surface 15,000 to 20,000 feet 
was added by these minute creatures. Ehrenberg estimates 
that a cubic inch of chalk contains more than a million of the 
shells of Rhizopods. (Dana's Geology, p. 471.) 



34 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

is no less wonderful than the magnitudes and ve- 
locities of the heavenly bodies. 

2. There were certain laws imposed on animal 
life at the beginning which are more or less dis- 
puted in scientific circles. (1) Life is from God. 
(2) There is a marked distinction between animal 
and vegetable life, even in their lower forms. The 
worm, though it grows in the ground, is not a root. 
A grub, though it looks like the leaf on which it is 
feeding, or the bark to which it clings, is different 
from either. (3) That the law of succession and 
transmission is that like produces its like both in 
the animal and vegetable kingdoms. (4) Aside 
from the skill and purpose evidenced in the indi- 
vidual animal in fashioning all the parts for the 
end for which it was made, there is a plan and 
purpose in the whole cosmos, attested by the 
words concluding each act of creation, "God saw 
that it was good." It was good and suitable for 
the great end which he had in view. That there 
was a plan is evident from such facts as the laying 
up of coal and metals long before they were 
needed, and from the wise adjustment of the dif- 
ferent parts to one great whole, as the atmosphere 
to the lungs of the animals breathing it, and the 
amount of water to the growth and perfection of 
plants depending upon it. And then there is the 
direct relation of all these different parts to man 
as the supreme head and ruler here on the earth. 
With reference to the law of like producing its 
like, there is and has been from its promulgation 



CREATION 35 

six thousand years ago, ample evidence that it is 
the uniform law of nature. A modification of this 
law, which admits of variation and improvement 
within certain limits, has been exalted into a law 
and is the basis of the theory of Evolution. 

EVOLUTION 

It seems necessary briefly to discuss this theory, 
as it has an important bearing upon modern in- 
terpretations of Scripture. The word is some- 
times used in a very vague sense. Thus Dr. Ly- 
man Abbott in his "Problems of Life," (p. 191) 
says, "This is what Evolution means — ordered 
progress, development from poorer to richer, from 
lower to higher, from less to greater — ^progress." 
In this sense all theists are Evolutionists. It re- 
quires but little examination of God's methods 
both in nature and in grace to see that he ad- 
vances in the line of progress. The question is 
whether the progress is a part of his impress on 
the material, or whether it inheres in matter. 
True Evolutionists adopt the latter view. Thus 
Le Conte says, "Evolution is (1) continuous, pro- 
gressive change, (2) according to certain laws, 
and (3) by means of resident forces." ("Evolu- 
tion," p. 8). Or more fully Mr. Joel A. Allen in 
his Preface to "The New Natural History" says, 
"All living creatures, including the physical part 
of man himself, may be and probably are, the 
lineal descendants of a single ancestral stock com- 
mon to them all; and all the differences between 



36 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the different sorts of animals are due entirely to 
the familiar forces of nature which have operated 
over an enormous lapse of time and are still oper- 
ating today in exactly the same way that they 
have operated in the past." Prof. Tyndall would 
say that the molecular forces determine the form 
which the solar energy shall assume — resulting in 
the one case in the formation of a cabbage, in an- 
other in the formation of an oak. The switching 
of the machinery which is governed by no law or 
purpose results, it may be, in a grasshopper or in 
the formation of a man. 

It is neither kind nor fair to charge a theory 
with tendencies which its advocates deny. Le 
Conte, for instance, strongly maintains the imma- 
nence of God in all things — "through him all 
things exist and without him there would be and 
could be nothing" ("Evolution," p. 300). 
And yet he clothes matter with an inherent force 
which makes it capable of originating a new form 
of life. It may take thousands of years to do it 
and yet it does it all the same. How this differs 
from Prof. Haeckel's frank avowal of spontaneous 
generation it is difficult to say. But if materialism 
is not accepted in its full form, there is the claim 
that inherent force is the determining cause in 
each successive generation. Says Le Conte, "Or- 
ganic forms follow one another in a continuous 
chain, each derived from a preceding, and giving 
origin to a succeeding. This is a law of deriva- 
tion, and we might call it a law of causation" 



CREATION ST 

("Evolution," p. 65). This might result in any 
haphazard development, as a cabbage or a man, 
or it might be claimed that the modification might 
go on improving on self -constituted lines. That 
is, if the final result of the thought of matter (if 
such a thing is conceivable) was man, then when 
bulk was in evidence as in the Reptilian period, 
we might have had a man of huge proportions — a 
great Saurian with snake-like head and a body as 
big as a trolley car, but certainly not very elegant 
in appearance. Or when at the time of the great 
beasts of the pre-glacial period, a tangent flying 
off towards man would have given us something 
like the cave lions, bear or hyenas with their car- 
niverous dispositions. But since, according to 
evolution, man has developed from the ape, and he 
is what he is, may we not properly expect a still 
higher and more beautiful animal evolved from the 
birds? Some scientist has very properly sug- 
gested this as a future possibility — certainly a 
possibility if it is to be decided by material forms. 
The difficulty then with the hypothesis of Evo- 
lution is, (1) its tendency towards materialism. 
(2) When this is denied, it gives to matter the 
attributes of divinity — if the inherent force can 
look forward to a grand plan such as has been 
developed in the past from Chaos to Cosmos. (3) 
It disturbs the uniformity of nature, which is that 
like produces its like. (4) It takes a modification 
of that law, which gives room for variation and 
improvement and makes it the central law. And 



38 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

yet discarding as we must the theory of Evolution 
as stated by its advocates, there are certain truths 
which the discussion has called out that are to be 
recognized as: (1) God has clothed organic forms 
with the power of reproduction. It is not a new 
creation, every time a seed produces its like, or an 
egg the offspring of the parent; but a wonderful 
potency of perpetuating life and the peculiarities 
of one generation down to the next. (2) With 
the like producing its like, the variation is also 
perpetuated. In this way improvements are made 
on the original stock in animal and vegetable, and 
especially in this way are the advances in civiliza- 
tion perpetuated. This may well be termed pro- 
gressive development. It is this which has given 
to the theory of evolution its force and currency 
in the popular mind. It is what many mean when 
they say God works through evolution. If by that 
is meant a force inherent in matter, then we deny. 
But if the directing thought is God's and not mat- 
ter, then we affirm. But we must take exception 
to language that is misleading. It is a contradic- 
tion to say God directs, when matter by inherent 
force directs itself. The organic forms of matter 
have a relation to God very similar to that occu- 
pied by angelic beings. They do his bidding. 



CHAPTER II 
THE CREATION OF MAN 

Before taking up the main topic of this chapter 
there are two preliminary subjects which it is 
necessary briefly to consider. One is that of 
God's Sabbath, and second, the documentary 
theory. 

god's sabbath 

1. After the brief account in the first chapter 
of the creation of man (1:26-31), it is said, 
(II. V. 2), "and on the seventh day God finished 
his work which he had made . . . and God blessed 
the seventh day and hallowed it ; because that in it 
he rested from all his work which God had created 
and made." The question arises, was this seventh 
day like the preceding six? if so, it would cover 
a long period of time. In favor of this is the lack 
of the formula, "the evening and the morning were 
the seventh day." It is at least open to us, who 
are living, as we think, in this seventh day, to 
speak of it as the day of redemption. After the 
creation of man God ceased creative work. He 
had reached the highest point on this earth, and 
the point towards which all preceding steps led. 
And now he looks at man in a new and higher as- 
pect. This is God's Sabbath — the day which he is 
hallowing until the work of redemption is com- 
plete. We would speak of the Old Dispensation 

39 



40 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

as the evening, and the New, with Christ's coming, 
as the morning. And if so, we anticipate the 
change from the seventh as rest after six days' 
labor to the first of the week, and hallowing work 
by making redemption the first and greatest of 
all works. This makes God's Sabbath of the ages 
grandly typical of the weekly human Sabbath 
which he instituted at the beginning long before 
its promulgation on Sinai. That the human 
writer should have understood the significance of 
what he was putting down is not to be expected. 
It is one of those indications like the Spirit of 
God brooding upon the waters that indicates di- 
vine as well as human authorship. The Bible, with 
its many authors, is a unit — a unit because prac- 
tically it has only one author. Like the works of 
God they are composed of individuals, but they 
make one great whole. The unity of this book 
and its divine authorship will appear more plainly 
as we go on. 

THE DOCUMENTARY THEORY 

2. Man having been thus created and placed 
in his high position, it was but natural that the 
writer, having gone over the works of creation, 
should recapitulate and enlarge upon this part of 
his work, and hence as we look upon it, are given 
the details in the second chapter, fourth verse and 
following. The introduction of the term Jehovah 
(Lord God, auth. ver.) has puzzled many com- 
mentators and led to the theory of different docu- 



THE CREATION OF MAN 4.1 

ments in the composition of Genesis. In the first 
chapter the term God alone is used, while in chap- 
ter 2, Jehovah God is the term. The reason for 
this might very properly be sought in the narra- 
tive. In the first chapter, the usual term God, as 
God of nature, is sufficient, but he wishes to con- 
nect his special work, the creation of man^ with 
God in his covenant relation, or Jehovah as the 
God of his people. (Ex. 3: 13). God that made 
man in his own image is to redeem him. And so 
as the God of redemption he uses in the second 
chapter the term, Jehovah God. Whether this 
was the only or the main reason for the change of 
term in the second chapter, can hardly be afiirmed 
very positively, as no reason for the change is 
given by the writer, but it seems as good a reason 
as the one invented in these days that he was using 
another document. Whether the writer used other 
documents or not, is a matter of no consequence, 
since by using them he made them his own. From 
what sources the Evangelist Luke obtained his in- 
formation about the birth and early days of Jesus 
we know not. He is responsible for their correct- 
ness. And so Moses, or whoever wrote Genesis is 
responsible for the book as it stands. If there are 
any disagreements they are his, or the disagree- 
ments of the book, or if, as we maintain, these 
books were inspired, they are divine disagree- 
ments. There is no need of mystifying a discus- 
sion which ought to be brief and simple, and that 
is, is the Bible inspired? If so, the writers were 



42 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

kept from fundamental error. Verbal inspiration 
makes the writers simply amanuenses or type- 
writers dictated to, which is not God's way of 
using men. He uses men as men, as he did Proph- 
ets and Apostles, with all their humanities. How 
much of error may have been allowed to creep in 
can be determined by criticism, which can and 
ought to be as sharp and only as sharp as truth 
will allow. Certainly there is no call to hide any 
disagreements by old documents for which the 
writer was not responsible. With reference to the 
vast array of learning involved in this discussion 
the following conclusions have been reached. (1) 
That no substantial agreement has been reached 
as to results. (2) That the traditional view of 
the authorship of most of the books of the Bible 
is accompanied with the fewest difficulties as to 
facts and doctrines. (3) That it was the evident 
intention of the Author of Revelation to make a 
book fairly intelligible to the ordinary mind and 
not one dependent on the dictum of scholars, whose 
learning is more of the letter than of the Spirit. 

CREATION OF MAN 

3. With reference to the creation of man, three 
things are stated very explicitly in the narrative 
in Genesis. (1) That it was the last and crown- 
ing work of creation. After that God rested, or 
ceased to make any new forms of life. When the 
Flood was sent, new forms were not created to 
take the place of those destroyed. (2) That man 



THE CREATION OF MAN 4.S 

differed in his creation from the animals in being 
made in the image of God. (3) That all mankind 
descended from a single pair. 

It is well to take up these points in order, as 
this is the great battleground between science and 
revelation, and where science has so far claimed 
the victory that not a few Biblical commentators 
are found supporting its views. Let us see how 
the matter stands. And first as to the Antiquity 
of man. It is admitted by Geologists that pre- 
historic remains of bones closely resembling the 
human have been found in caves with those of ex- 
tinct animals. Skeletons have been found, one of 
a man six feet high, and others shorter. These 
skeletons showed "fair average human skulls," ac- 
cording to Huxley. Others had marks of in- 
feriority. (Dana's Geology, p. 574). This in- 
feriority of structure is generally acknowledged 
by Naturalists, and if we follow the theory of 
Evolutionists, man's precursor would necessarily 
be of a low type. The Pithican Homopus Erectus 
or ape-like man, whose skull was found in Java 
in 1894, and who was supposed by many to fur- 
nish the missing link between man and the ape, was 
said to have had a brain capacity half way be- 
tween the lowest man and the highest known type 
of ape. Besides skeletons, stone implements, 
charcoal and relics of fire and bone, drawings of 
animals have been discovered, usually in caves 
with the bones of fierce animals now extinct, such 
as the cave bear, cave hyena, cave lions, and the 



44 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

old elephant, which was one-third larger than the 
elephant of our own time. These remains belong 
to the Glacial period, which some think lasted 
twenty-five thousand years, and the close of which 
was, say, twelve thousand years ago. The conclu- 
sion generally adopted as the result of these sci- 
entific investigations is expressed in a book, quite 
largely used in schools (Redway & Hinman's Na- 
tional Advanced Geography, p. 34), "At one 
time many thousands of years ago all or nearly 
all people were more ignorant than the most sav- 
age tribes now living. They probably did not 
know how to make many things, but lived in caves, 
wore no clothing, and ate only fruits, nuts, roots 
and such insects as they could catch, and such 
small animals as they could kill with clubs and 
stones. At last some one may have learned how 
to tie a harp stone on the end of a stick and thus 
make a spear with which to spear fish or kill ani- 
mals. Then some one may have learned that 
sticks rubbed together will get hot and at last 
burn, thus starting a fire." 

The question arises, is this conclusion that the 
so-called Paliolithic or Neolithic man living in 
caves — the companion of extinct carniverous ani- 
mals, was our ancestor, a correct one or not.'' Our 
answer is that however near these animals approxi- 
mated to the human in their physical structure, 
they were in no sense the being which God made 
in his own image, and from whom we are de- 
scended. ( 1 ) The first argument is that the world 



THE CREATION OF MAN 45 

was not ready for man at the time it is affirmed 
that he appeared. In the Biblical narrative one 
is impressed with the thought that the consumma- 
tion and crown of the work of creation is man. In 
the work of the six days God spoke and it was 
done, but when the creation of man is reached 
there is deliberation and consultation. And when 
it goes forward it is in the exaltation of the ma- 
terial form so that it contains as in a temple the 
likeness of the great God, the supreme Creator 
of all things. The spiritual in its highest form 
is united to the material, and that makes humanity 
and then the work of creation ceases. And as we 
examine the work of creation from the scientific 
standpoint, we are brought to the same conclusion, 
the exaltation of man. It is laying up in store- 
houses for his use and approaching slowly through 
different grades of vertebrates, until the apex of 
the Pyramid is reached in the human, the highest 
of animals. But the time for that consummation 
had not been reached in the Glacial period. 

In geological formula this was the Tertiary 
period, followed by the Post Tertiary or Quater- 
nary period. Dana says the Tertiary was the age 
of mammals and the Quaternary the age of man 
(Geology, p. 141). At the beginning of the lat- 
ter the gigantic carniverous animals passed away 
with the cold of the Glacial period, and in their 
place came such animals as the stag family and 
the ox, or the herbivorous instead of the carniver- 
ous (Geology, p. 589). It was the period too of 



46 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

continued changes and increase in the land sur- 
face of the globe (lb. p. 588), and of completed 
river systems, such as the Amazon, Mississippi, 
Ganges, etc. (p. 587) ; of the gradual purification 
of the atmosphere (p. 593), and of the waters 
of the ocean (p. 593). In fact it was the age for 
perfecting and finishing the previous acts of crea- 
tion. It was the house being furnished and made 
ready for its inhabitant. In the Biblical narra- 
tive this completeness of preparation is present. 
Just as afterwards the Tabernacle and Temple 
were completed before the Shekinah came to fill 
with its glory the Holy Place. And if we rightly 
read Geology there was no readiness for man's ap- 
pearance until the close of the Glacial period. 
Prof. Winchell says that it has been nearly unani- 
mously agreed that post glacial time does not ex- 
ceed ten thousand years, and probably amounts to 
about eight thousand years. (See note in Dr. 
Orr's "God's Image in Man," p. 306). There is 
no intention of using this argument of the unpre- 
paredness of the earth as absolute proof that man 
has not existed the many milleniums that have been 
claimed, but it is some satisfaction to find that 
Geology confirms the historical view and places 
the creation of man at a period where it seems to 
properly belong. 

2. A second argument is that man, with his 
spiritual nature and capacities, could only have 
been made by a direct creative act of God. What 
is man.? He has been described as the sum total 



THE CREATION OF MAN 47 

of animals. The vertebrate type which exists in 
the fish, which is more fully developed in the ani- 
mal with legs for locomotion, and more or less of 
brain power finds its perfection in the erect form 
of man, with mind to carry out his wishes and to 
direct his hands and feet to go and do as he 
pleases. As an animal he is the highest and best 
fitted to govern of all that dwell on the earth. But 
he is not a mere animal. You only touch the bor- 
der of his humanity when you say he is the highest 
of animals. Three characteristics might be men- 
tioned which distinguish him from the mere animal. 
We might speak of others, which are like but- 
tresses to the bridge which spans the chasm be- 
tween our two natures — speech and reason seem 
distinctly human, but the one is made with vocal 
organs ; and animals, as they approach man and 
seem made for his benefit, have in some measure 
the reasoning faculty. We pass, therefore, to 
these features, which belong distinctly to the spir- 
itual and not to the physical part of our nature. 
First man is a moral being ; second a religious, and 
third an immortal being. First, he is gifted with 
a moral sense. He approves the right whether he 
does it or not. An animal feels the obligation of 
instinct, but the ought that represents duty from 
a moral standpoint he fails to see. This moral 
faculty or conscience represents not only clearer 
discernment or intellectual power, but a distinct 
individuality or will power, coupled with a sense 
of moral obligation. Nature is more or less a 



48 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

machine working in grooves and by a power out- 
side of itself. In plant life there is the beginning 
of individuality, which is more manifest in the ani- 
mal, as it shows wishes or desires of its own. But 
in man, whose will is operated upon by motives, 
individual responsibility assumes a higher form. 
Another nature — we call it the spiritual — comes 
in and dominates the physical. He who allows the 
lower nature to rule is animal in his tastes and 
appetites. If governed by the higher, by his moral 
nature or conscience, he is spiritual. 

This moral or spiritual nature is still fur- 
ther emphasized when we say man is a religious 
being. There is in him a tendency to worship and 
hold fellowship with God. If he knows not the 
true he seeks the false. In the savage this may 
show itself in the desire to avert evil. He feels de- 
pendent upon some higher being and tries to pro- 
pitiate his favor in crude or superstitious ways. 
But the religious nature in its natural normal 
state hungers after God, as the bird for its nest, 
or the hart for the water brooks. The spiritual 
in man can only be satisfied by him who made the 
spirit, and so it cries out, "My soul thirsteth for 
God, for the living God." 

The same may be said about the longing 
for immortality. It shows itself even when most 
crushed out, in care for the dead, in providing for 
their spirits in the happy hunting ground; but in 
the soul responsive to its nobler instincts the 
thought is, "I will be satisfied when I awake in thy 



THE CREATION OF MAN 49 

likeness." Likeness to God is certainly not like- 
ness to the animal or the material. That dies, as 
all things earthly die. But the spiritual lives, even 
when suffering punishment that is called death. 
For a spirit once created never becomes non-ex- 
istent. 

We have then in man a nature, which is not 
merely above all animals, but which is distinct 
from all that can be developed out of material 
forms. It is not an evolution, but a gift to the 
already highly developed animal of something 
higher, in the bestowment of another nature. Oth- 
erwise we destroy the spiritual and make man only 
material without any link to bind him to God and 
the spirit world. This seems to be the drift of 
commentators who, like Canon Driver, follow the 
evolutionary theory. He holds very positively to 
the theological fact of the relation of God to the 
world, but is just as positive about the progress 
of man from anthropoid ancestors. He defines 
the image of God as the gift of self-conscious rea- 
son (p. 15, "Commentary on Genesis") and 
argues against the high intellectual capacities of 
our first parents, as Miltonic rather than Biblical 
(p. 56). It is contrary, he says, to progress, to 
the gradual advance from lower to higher, from 
the less perfect to the more perfect which is 
stamped upon the entire range of organic nature, 
(p. bQ). But surely if God is the Creator he can 
control and modify the work of his own hands. 
He can proceed by gradual advance or by leaps 



50 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

and bounds, if the latter seem necessary. This he 
has abundantly indicated, not only by the intro- 
duction of vegetable and animal life in creation, 
but the same thing is manifested more or less now. 
There are not only constant forces acting like 
water in the erosion of river channels, but erup- 
tive-forces sudden and terrific, as the earthquake. 
It is hard to tell which has caused the greatest 
changes on our globe — ^the eruptive or the erosive. 
And then the gift of self-consciousness is no gift 
at all, but simply the result of other endowments. 
The main thing was the gift of a spiritual nature 
involving reason, individuality and responsibility. 
Possessing these he would become conscious of 
their existence. We are not to hide the gift by 
specifying only one of its results. 

3. Another argument is drawn from our con- 
dition since the Fall. It is readily seen that our 
spiritual nature is not now in the image of God 
as it came perfect from his hands. We are like a 
broken statue with the lineaments blurred, but not 
obliterated. There is in man an approval of that 
which is good, but a reluctance to perform — a 
struggle between right understanding and a per- 
verse will ; immortal, and yet forgetting his destiny 
in the present, god-like and yet often basely ani- 
mal; capable of and often rising to the highest 
civilization, and yet sinking again to barbarism. 
This is easily explained by the narrative in Gen- 
esis. He was made upright, but fell from the es- 
tate in which he was created, by sinning against 



THE CREATION OF MAN 51 

God. Adam's nature became corrupt, and his de- 
scendants inherited his corrupt nature. Accord- 
ing to evolution, man was imperfect before Adam 
and imperfect since. The Fall came upon him, 
says Driver, "when he was immature in intellect 
and culture" (Gen., p. 57). We at once feel 
that the Fall, which was really a test of man's obe- 
dience and a punishment for disobedience, came 
upon him when he was unprepared to meet it. 
This is usually met by talking about the Fall as if 
it were a step in man's upward progress and 
development. 

The claim for the scriptural narrative, there- 
fore, is, (1) That it is the only adequate explana- 
tion for the moral, religious and immortal nature 
which exists in man. (S) That the Fall or cor- 
rupt tendency in man now, can only be explained 
by the same authority which states his original 
condition and the departure from it. (3) Pro- 
gressive development in the race, especially in its 
corrupt state, is due, not to innate forces in man, 
but to divine grace and power working in and 
with Revelation, and especially in the gift of his 
Son. 

From our standpoint we are obliged to say that 
nothing more delusive and subversive of Christi- 
anity can be imagined than this theory which 
starts with the evolution of man from anthropoid 
ancestors, or the so-called Peliolithic and Nico- 
lithic man in the time of the Glacial period. The 
same force carries him through the stone, iron 



52 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

and bronze ages, down to Babylonian and Egyp- 
tian civilizations. It makes a myth of the Fall 
and of innocence and intelligence in the Garden 
of Eden. It develops monogamy out of polygamy, 
civilization out of savagery and barbarism, and 
reaches its haven of the perfect man without 
miracle, or a divine Christ, or the Holy Spirit. 
What a sin against the religious nature of man, 
which so needs help and which has the promise of 
it so abundantly given in the Word of God. What 
a sin against him who has given us that nature 
and so exalted us above the beasts that perish, by 
linking us to himself, and to another and better 
life than this. 

[Note. It might have seemed proper that reference should 
have been made to Davis' work on the Image of God in man. 
He goes over the same gromid in part as the above, showing 
the inadequacy of Evolution to account for man's higher and 
spiritual nature. But the main part of the argument had been 
written before I learned of the publication of his work.] 



CHAPTER III 
THE UNITY OF MANKIND 

Those who hold to the statement that Adam was 
made in the image of God, hold also to the view 
that Eve was the mother of all living. But if man 
descended from anthropoid ancestors, he was 
probably made in groups like other animals. Thus 
Driver says, "All mankind are not descended from 
a single pair, but arose independently in different 
centers of the globe," and so he says, "The real 
unity of the race consists not in unity of blood, 
but in unity of mental constitution and of moral 
and spiritual capacities." "Each race," he adds, 
"independently passed through similar moral ex- 
periences, and each similarly underwent a 'fall.' " 
("Commentary on Genesis," p. 57). Three fund- 
amental points are here involved: First, The fath- 
erhood of God; Second, The brotherhood of man, 
and Third, The marriage relation, as between one 
man and one woman. The first we have already 
considered in the last chapter, in the fact that God 
made man in his own image. The brotherhood of 
man. Driver holds only in a modified form. We 
are like birds of the same feather, though our 
pedigree does not go back to the same ancestor. 
We will take this up a little later on. At present 
it is to be noticed that there is an inherent im- 
probability that different races possessed with in- 
dependent wills, should have met the Fall in the 

53 



54 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

same way. Why did not some escape, as was the 
case with the angels, when put to a similar test 
of obedience? 

1. MARRIAGE 

In discussing the unity of the race it is 
necessary to say a word about marriage. In read- 
ing the account we see the difference between man's 
creation and that of animals. Not only did God 
decide to make man in his own image, but he only 
makes at first a single individual, whereas in ani- 
mal life, the "waters swarmed with swarms of liv- 
ing creatures." And in providing a suitable com- 
panion for man, none could be found in the animal 
world — ^none among the descendants of his so- 
called Anthropoid ancestors, and so out of man 
he made woman. And then he pronounces on this 
new pair the great law of marriage, "Therefore 
shall a man leave his father and his mother and 
shall cleave unto his wife ; and they shall be one 
flesh." Here was a distinct planning and looking 
forward to what was best for him and for human 
society as long as he existed on the earth. And 
then is it too much to say that he was planning for 
the best good of man in his brotherly and sympa- 
thetic relations to his fellow man? He knew 
what distinctions would arise in society — how civi- 
lization, wealth and station would make barriers in 
contrast with ignorance, vice and barbarism, and 
so he removed the greatest barrier by making all 
men brethren. We are of one blood — ^have one 



THE UNITY OF MANKIND 55 

Father, one Saviour, one Heaven, is the message 
to our common humanity. And nothing so stirs 
our sympathy for the fallen and degraded, as this 
fact that we are brethren, capable of being ele- 
vated and united in the glorious position of Sons 
of God. That God looked forward to and planned 
all this in the creation and marriage of our first 
parents, is what the Bible would have us believe. 
That human nature in its ignorance and sin should 
have evolved marriage in the divine sense and 
meaning, out of promiscuous co-habitation or 
polygamy is not conceivable. History plainly 
teaches that there has been no such evolutionary 
tendency in any of the nations of the earth. The 
difficulty is in keeping depraved human nature up 
to the Biblical standard. It is only done by the 
authority of God, looking, of course, to man's 
best good individually and socially. 

2. UNITY OF THE RACE 

Let us proceed therefore with the arguments 
which we think go to establish the unity of the 
race from a scientific standpoint. It is well to see 
that in taking the Bible as it is, we are not teach- 
ing antiquated science, but truth which the best 
investigation has proved to be correct. We need 
also to dissipate the assumption of superiority 
which as a part of egoism we are disposed to 
claim for the Caucasian race. Cultivation and 
training ought to do for other races all that they 
have done for us. 



56 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

There are two theories about race distinctions. 
One theory would make these distinctions funda- 
mental and radical, involving different race-cen- 
ters or origins of man — say five or seven. The 
other theory is that in some remote past, the pre- 
Adamite race started from a given center — say 
Lemuria off the east coast of Africa, and became 
diversified in the lapse of ages, as we now see 
them. 

The argument for race distinctions is founded 
for the most part on external differences, such as 
color of the skin, fiber of the hair, projection 
of face and lips beyond the line of the forehead 
and alleged differences in brain development. But 
these differ in the same race, as the Indian in 
color, from the almost black on the shores of the 
Rio de la Plata to the almost white Mandans of 
the upper Missouri. The shaft of the hair is 
found to differ in the same individual as well as 
in different races. And within the limits of mod- 
ern history the Lapps, Finns and May gars all 
descending from a common stock, exhibit the most 
marked differences in skull and general conforma- 
tion — the Maygars being tall and well made and 
the Lapps short and uncouth ("Unity of Man- 
kind" by Dr. Cabell, p. 96). It is to be remarked 
also that these differences are not so great as in 
some animals — the dog, for example. The fol- 
lowing facts, therefore, with respect to the so- 
called different races can be clearly proved. 

First. They are anatomically the same. There 



THE UNITY OF MANKIND 57 

is the same number and variety of bones, the same 
temperature of blood, the same formation of skin. 
There is also the same period of arriving at the 
full development of the physical powers, the aver- 
age duration of life, the tendency to disease and 
similarity of diseases. Second. Beyond this the 
mental and moral constitution are the same. We 
expect of course variation between the mental 
caliber of a civilized European and a Hottentot, 
which in generations would show itself in cranial 
development; but fundamentally their natures are 
the same. Allowing for civilization and environ- 
ment, memory, the reasoning faculties, the distinc- 
tion between right and wrong, the disposition to 
worship, the consciousness of sin, the need of 
forgiveness are all alike in every race. This agrees 
with the declaration of Paul as he stood in the 
center of the world's civilization and declared that 
God "hath made of one blood all nations of men" 
(Acts 17:26). 



CHAPTER IV 
THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND THE FALL 

GENESIS, CHAPTERS 2 AND 3 

In continuing the account of man's creation the 
narrative describes his abode — then the creation 
of woman and the law of marriage between one 
man and one woman. After that we have the ac- 
count of the Fall and the Expulsion from Para- 
dise. The man thought with reference to the 
works created centers in man. 

1. MIST AND RAIN 

Before speaking of his abode, an explanation 
is thrown in of the state of the vegetable world. 
No plant of the field and no herb had yet sprung 
up (S:5). That is, the vegetable life suited for 
man had not yet been created. Vegetation of a 
different kind, and belonging to the carboniferous 
period, and such as was needed for the leviathans 
and carniverous animals before the herbivorous, 
but not for the more recent animals. For this 
previous vegetation, all the moisture required and 
perhaps in great abundance, was furnished by the 
mist going up from the yet uncooled earth. Evi- 
dently the atmosphere was not purified and did 
not concentrate the moisture in clouds, and there 
was no rain. 

That which specially interests us is that here is 
a bit, not of antiquated but of anticipated science, 

58 



EDEN AND THE FALL 59 

such as confirms the results of the most recent in- 
vestigations with regard to the history of our 
globe. As man could not learn this from tradi- 
tion, nor from any science then known, the only 
conceivable source is the inspiration of the Al- 
mighty. And to this we look rather than to any 
Babylonian or Egyptian documents. 

2. GARDEN OF EDEN 

Man having been made, Jehovah God placed 
him in a garden "eastward in Eden" (v. 8). From 
the description the garden was more like a park 
of considerable extent, with four rivers. Two of 
these rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, are identi- 
fied with rivers of the same name, while the others 
are in dispute. The location is also in dispute, 
whether at the mouth of the rivers near the Per- 
sian Gulf or at their source in Armenia. Fig 
leaves and the absence of clothing would suggest 
the more Southern locality. 

This garden, man was to dress and keep (2: 15) 
showing that labor or employment is not incon- 
sistent with a state of innocence and happiness. 
Free use was granted to all the trees of the garden, 
with one exception, and that was, the "tree of 
knowledge of good and evil." The name of the 
tree indicates another idea beyond the fruit it 
bore. In this case it was a test of obedience. 
Obedience would result in knowing the good by 
experience. There would be the approbation of 
God and of one's own conscience. Disobedience 



60 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

would result in knowing the evil and its effects. 
The test was a simple one, and so the question of 
obedience was easily understood. Fruit must 
have been abundant in the garden, and only one 
tree was forbidden. The tree of life was accessible 
until after disobedience. This seems a symbol of 
a truth underlying the whole of Scripture, that 
life is provided for us by God himself — is his gift, 
but is withheld from the disobedient. Wherever 
bestowed it is an invaluable and eternal blessing. 

S. THE FALL 

The next topic carries us still further into the 
region of symbols. The tempter appears under 
t]|e guise of a serpent — a specially fitting emblem, 
when we consider its cunning in securing its prey 
and avoiding danger. Some have thought it un- 
derwent a change after the curse, and became, what 
it was not before, a crawling animal. But of this 
we are not sure. It seemed in no way repulsive 
to Eve, whereas, since then, all her descendants 
have looked upon snakes, even when not venomous, 
with repugnance. The power of speech, we must 
consider one of Satan's devices and not a mere 
suggestion to the mind of Eve, without any out- 
ward expression. She had not yet become evil so 
that the depraved nature could be the medium of 
wicked thought, as with us. The serpent's method 
however, was the same that the devil pursues with 
us. As Matthew Henry says, "he questions, first, 
whether it were a sin or no ; second, he denies that 



EDEN AND THE FALL 61 

there is any danger in it ; third, he suggests much 
advantage by it. And these are his common 
methods." He begins very cautiously, by asking 
what appeared to be an innocent enquiry, "Yea 
hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of 
the garden?" He seemed to intimate that the 
command, not to eat, extended to the other trees. 
To which the woman replies, that this was not so. 
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the gar- 
den, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the 
midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not 
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." 
The not touching, does not appear in the original 
command, but it is always safe to avoid that 
which is forbidden. The danger is in holding the 
parley, even if the law be reaffirmed. It is a gain 
to the tempter, to get an ear for his evil sugges- 
tions. And so he goes on to say, there was no 
danger in disobedience. "Ye shall not surely 
die." This was a bold lie, but it might start a 
doubt about the justice, a certainty of the pun- 
ishment. And he follows it up by affirming that 
instead of danger, there would be decided advan- 
tage. Ye shall be as God himself — (not as gods 
— for of false gods Eve knew nothing). He 
adroitly uses the name of the tree as an assur- 
ance that their knowledge should be enlarged. In 
a sense it would be true, but by a bitter instead 
of a pleasant experience of evil. And instead of 
becoming like God, they would be made like Satan, 
antagonistic to God. So far the tempter ad- 



62 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

dressed the ear. After this he could afford to be 
silent, as he sees the temptation working through 
the eye, as Eve looks at the beauty of the for- 
bidden fruit. It was then an easy step to open 
transgression — to taking the fruit and giving it 
to her husband, who thus became a partaker in 
her act of disobedience. 

The first effect of their sin was hiding from 
him against whom they had sinned; and a sense 
of shame or guilt in making themselves aprons to 
cover themselves. The hiding from God reveals 
to us the terms of friendly intercourse which he 
had, up to this time shown his children. This 
was now broken up, and was one of the penalties 
of disobedience. Man was expelled from the gar- 
den and from access to the tree of life. Under 
harder conditions than before, he was to till the 
ground and seek to reap from it the fruit of his 
labors. 

4. PUNISHMENT 

As this was man's first transgression and as it 
was far-reaching in its results, it is well to con- 
sider what the punishment was, and why it was 
inflicted. Those who hold to the imperfection of 
our first parents, would hardly consider the Fall 
and Expulsion from Eden as a punishment. It 
was rather a part of the upward progress of the 
race from savagery to civilization. They would 
claim that the varied races were involved in the 
same moral condition as the Adamic race by in- 



EDEN AND THE FALL 63 

dependent processes. For all must acknowledge 
that man as he now exists is a sinful being. How 
he became so is the difficult question, especially if 
we do not accept the exact statement of the Bibli- 
cal narrative. No one would venture the state- 
ment that God made man imperfect, and therefore 
he became sinful. It is almost equivalent to say- 
ing he made man sinful, which is repugnant to all 
our ideas of God. So that we are forced to ac- 
cept the only other alternative, that God made 
man perfect, and that as a free agent he fell from 
that high estate by sinning against God. (See 
Driver's attempt to avoid this conclusion. Gen. 
p. 56). When sin has been committed, that it 
should be punished is a necessity in all govern- 
ment. The Bible treats it as an intentive truth 
to be accepted without argument, just as the 
being of God. If no penalty is inflicted, "the 
magistrate beareth the sword in vain." Some 
preach a gospel of rewards and no punishments. 
But that is not the gospel of the Kingdom of 
Heaven — nor of any known system of govern- 
ment. What then is the penalty? Death or the 
opposite of the life promised. Obey, and you 
have the one. Disobey, and you have the other. 

(1) DEATH TO THE BODY 

Life was first immortality to both soul and 
body. Immortality to the soul is, in a sense, 
natural. It belongs to its very existence. And 
from the whole tenor of Scripture it is never taken 



64 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

away. With the body it is different. It is earthly 
and, like all things of earth, perishes. In creating 
man in his own image, God endowed this transient 
material with immortality. As a punishment of 
sin it was sent back to its original condition. 
"Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." 
Some indication of what might have been our lot 
was given by the prolongation of human life to 
nearly a thousand years, and by the translation 
of Enoch without seeing death. This first gift of 
longevity to the body and then the shortening of 
man's days on the earth, seems vastly more satis- 
factory in view of what man is and of what he 
was made for, than the assertion of Canon Driver 
"that the longevity here described is physiologi- 
cally incompatible with the structure of the hu- 
man body" (Gen. p. To). It is incompatible with 
the structure of the body that it should rise again. 
And yet we believe in that, as a result of divine 
power. And we believe in it as a restoration to 
man of all that he lost in the Fall. 

With this taking away of the immortality of the 
body there was inflicted the sorrow and burden, 
which in this life accompanies sin. The woman 
was especially to suffer, and the ground was to 
be cursed for man's sake. Thorns and thistles 
were to grow spontaneously, and in the sweat of 
his brow, man was to cultivate the soil. The extra 
labor involved has in it the seeds of blessing, for 
labor is better than idleness. It was punishment, 
as has been witnessed by the sorrows and miseries 



EDEN AND THE FALL 65 

of these thousands of years ; but not wholly with- 
out its consolations. It is a harder task to sub- 
jugate nature and ourselves than if we had con- 
tinued innocent, but there is a greater reward if 
we come off victorious. 

(2) SPIEITUAL DEATH 

Death came not only to the body, but to the 
soul. As the soul continues its existence while 
the body dies, the main significance of death is not 
in the outward and material. The particulars in- 
volved show, however, that it is a fearful reality. 
There is (1) Alienation from God — manifest in 
hiding from God, as our first parents did in the 
garden. (2) Subjugation of the higher nature to 
the lower. The reverse of this was the teaching 
of man's whole organization. As an animal, the 
brain, not size or strength, was the dominating 
faculty. Through centuries, life in animal was 
progressing from mollusk to vertebrate, and from 
vertebrate in fish to vertebrate in animal. And 
from vertebrate in animal with his four paws for 
locomotion, to the upright position in man and 
with his brain using hand and arm for higher 
purposes than instinct ever suggested. And then 
crowning all, comes the supreme work of God, 
subjecting brain to the control of moral power, 
representing God within us and God over and 
above all his works. When Eve listened to the 
serpent it was rebellion against the fundamental 
law of our being. Disobedience was disorder, con- 



66 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

fusion, anarchy, not only in man, but in the 
whole realm of nature that sympathized with his 
fallen condition. (3) In this state man could no 
longer do good, and (4) was prone to evil. With 
reference to the two last features, subsequent his- 
tory furnished abundant evidence. 

(3) DEATH ETERNAL 

Eternal death follows necessarily from death of 
soul and body. Once begun, it must continue to 
man and his descendants, as long as the aliena- 
tion from God lasts. How long this alienation 
shall last and how it can be removed, depends on 
him against whom sin has been committed. That 
there was hope of restoration is intimated in this 
connection. But the first thought is the making 
clear that suffering and punishment follow sin. 
The law is guarded first on the side of justice and 
then afterward on the side of mercy and forgive- 
ness. God who made man knows just what he 
needs in the way of strength of motive, to keep 
him in the path of virtue and obedience. 

(4) THE FIRST PROMISE OR PROTEVANGELISM 

Lest our first parents should sink into despond- 
ency, there came with this infliction of punish- 
ment, the foreshadowing of the conflict between 
right and wrong and obedience and disobedience. 
It was to be a conflict vastly prolonged. It was 
to be waged through the ages between the great 
spiritual forces represented by sin, evil and Satan 



EDEN AND THE FALL 67 

on the one hand, and on the other by conscience, 
the obligation to do right, and especially God in 
Christ. The seed of the woman was to bruise the 
head of the serpent and the serpent was to bruise 
his heel. After ages of this conflict, and since 
Christ has appeared in the flesh, no clearer de- 
scription has been given of the fight and the ulti- 
mate victory than in this brief sentence — this ray 
of hope, as Adam and Eve were thrust out of 
Paradise. Here is prophecy begun by Him who 
knows all from the beginning to the end. 

(5) SACRIFICE 

In connection with this promise, comes an indi- 
cation of regard for the guilty pair. It is said, 
"Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife 
coats of skins and clothed them." (3:21). How 
much this implies it is diflicult to say. From the 
fact that sacrifices are spoken of in the next chap- 
ter, it does not seem an improper inference that 
they were now instituted and that the skins were 
from beasts, slain for that object. If so, a great 
truth is here symbolized that through sacrifice, 
the nakedness of the soul is covered by the right- 
eousness which God has provided by the substi- 
tution of a victim in the place of the offender. 
How far our first parents realized the truth thus 
set forth it is impossible to say. Eve seemed to 
hold by faith to the promise in calling her first- 
born as one gotten from the Lord, or as some 
think it should be translated, "I have gotten a 



68 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

man — Jehovah" — as if not only the promise of 
bruising the head of the serpent was to be ful- 
filled in this boy, but that the boy himself was 
Jehovah-God manifest in the flesh. However, 
while some see too little in the record, we would 
not go to the other extreme, of finding more than 
the type and shadow of things to come. 



CHAPTER V 
CAIN AND ABEL 

GENESIS, CHAPTER 4 

This chapter is a sequence to the story of the 
Fall, and shows that the sin of our first parents 
involved their offspring. Of the sinfulness of the 
whole race there can be no doubt. Two ways of 
explaining it are common among theologians. 
One is that by nature we are children of wrath. 
The old law of like producing its like is true of 
man in his spiritual nature. Born of parents, 
who after the Fall, were corrupt, we partake of 
their corruption. Another idea is that of federal 
headship. As we partake of the blessings of 
Christ, the second Adam, by coming into cove- 
nant relation with him through faith, so through 
the first Adam we share in the results of his trans- 
gression. The two explanations melt into each 
other, as we view them from the standpoint of the 
first or second Adam. 

(1) THE FIRST MURDER 

That the first-born of our race should be a mur- 
derer, and that too of his own brother, is not a 
pleasant fact to read about, so soon after the 
creation of man in God's image and the placing 
him innocent in the Garden of Eden. And then 
how strange that the brother who was so unsus- 
pecting, and who was accepted by God in his wor- 

69 



70 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

ship, was not kept from harm by the Almighty; 
when at the same time he condescended to reason 
with and protect the wicked brother. Thus early 
are we taught that the rewards of the righteous 
are not in this life. We are also taught the long- 
suffering and patience of God towards the worst 
of criminals. 

The occasion of Cain's anger against his 
brother, was because Abel's sacrifice was accepted 
of God, while his was not. Adam doubtless acted 
as priest in his own family, just as Abraham did, 
until his sons were grown and had households of 
their own. Cain and Abel were engaged in rural 
occupations — the one a tiller of the ground, the 
other a keeper of sheep. 

(2) SIGNIFICANCE OF SACRIFICE 

At the end of days, which some suppose was the 
Sabbath, others the end of the year, or at the 
time of harvest, they came with their sacrifice. 
Both brought of the fruits of their toil, and so far 
as expressions of thankfulness were concerned, 
this was the proper method. Cain may have ar- 
gued, I am a tiller of the ground, and I bring 
these fruits as a token of gratitude. This is nat- 
ural religion, and from a human standpoint, was 
correct. But it did not meet with the divine ap- 
proval. In what way that approval was mani- 
fested is not certain. Many think that as in later 
times, the sacrifice of Abel was consumed by fire. 
If not in that way, it was made plain to Cain that 



CAIN AND ABEL 71 

his offering was not accepted. In the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, it is said that "by faith, Abel 
offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain" 
(11: 4). If by faith, there must have been some 
previous instruction as to the method and object 
of sacrifice. As a thank-offering, and without 
any revelation of the divine will, Cain's offering 
was as appropriate as AbePs. But if God had 
signified that he preferred another way, then that 
way must be followed. How far our first parents 
were instructed as to the nature of sacrifice and 
its conniection with the promised deliverer, Reve- 
lation does not inform us. We suppose light on 
this matter became clearer as the time approached 
for Christ's coming. Possibly all they knew was 
that sacrifice was to be of the firstlings of the 
flock. This meant expiation — substitution of life 
for life. Doubtless there was a tendency to the 
idea of Cain, that a sacrifice was simply a thank- 
offering, or as they were called by the Greeks, the 
food and drink of the gods. Thus Homer "de- 
scribes Jupiter and the rest of the gods, as going 
from Olympus to a festal sacrifice, which the 
Ethiopians presented to him, and which lasted 
twelve days" (Knapp's "Theology," p. 380). The 
same idea is expressed in the cooked sacrifices, or 
offerings of the Chinese. In connection with this 
festal idea, there is also ample evidence of the 
idea of expiation, or at least appeasing the anger 
of the gods. Hence it was believed that the more 
precious the victim, and the more nearly connected 



n THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

with the offerer, the more certainly would the 
gods be appeased. Hence the splendid hecatombs 
mentioned by Homer, and hence human sacrifices 
and the offering of children by their own parents. 
Asar says of the Gauls, "that unless the life of a 
man was given for the life of men, they did not 
think that the immortal gods could otherwise be 
appeased." (See Hill's "Divinity," p. 443). It 
is not necessary to claim that this expiatory idea 
of sacrifice was handed down by tradition from 
our first parents, though that certainly is prob- 
able. To this may have been added the yearnings 
of our fallen nature to find a way of reconcilia- 
tion to God. There is certainly no evidence that 
the typical idea so constantly prominent in Scrip- 
ture and which kept the Jews from excess as in 
offering human sacrifices, was ever present, except 
in connection with revelation. And yet the typi- 
cal, as well as the expiatory idea, was always a 
part of acceptable sacrifice. It must have been so 
with Abel ; for his offering was acceptable through 
faith in the future and not merely because of obe- 
dience to a divine command. Cain's offering was 
without faith ; and so he neglected both the typical 
and the expiatory idea. And yet he was, in his 
way, religious. He brought an offering to the 
Lord. From this it is evident that mere worship 
is not sufficient. The external performance of 
what we may think duty may not be acceptable in 
the sight of God. Without faith it is impossible 
to please him. Shut out of Paradise, man's hope 



CAIN AND ABEL 73 

is in God's way of return and not by seeking to 
climb over the wall. 

This explanation of the meaning of sacrifice 
and the reason why Cain's offering was not ac- 
cepted is more in accord with the fundamental 
thought of the Old Testament in looking at the 
future, than the less prominent but important 
idea of regarding our motives in the worship of 
God. (This last is Driver's explanation. Gen., 
p. 64). 

The acceptance of Abel's sacrifice, while his 
was rejected, stirred up envy and anger in the 
breast of Cain. His countenance fell and he was 
very wroth. Notwithstanding his unreasonable 
anger, God reasons with Cain. He reminds him 
that he knew enough of God to know that his deal- 
ings were right — that if he did well he should be 
accepted, but if not, sin lay at the door. There 
are two interpretations of this last clause. One 
that if he did not do well, repent and sin, that is, 
a sin-offering, lay at the door. Come with the ap- 
pointed sacrifice and be accepted. The other in- 
terpretation personifies sin as lying in wait at the 
door. Sinful passion lay as a ravenous beast to 
devour him; but thou shouldst rule over it, con- 
quer the rising temptation before it is too strong 
for thee, and subdue it. Driver, who holds the 
latter view, adds, "It teaches a profound psycho- 
logical truth, the danger of harboring a sullen and 
unreasoning discontent. It is a temper which is 
only too likely to lead to fatal consequences, and 



•74 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

which therefore as soon as it begins to show itself 
should at all costs be checked." ("Commentary on 
Genesis," p. 65). 

The reasoning of God seemed, however, to have 
no effect on Cain. He concealed his wrath for a 
time, talking with Abel under the guise of friend- 
ship, and waiting until they could be alone in the 
field. And then he rose up against his brother 
and slew him. 

Notwithstanding the sin of Cain, God still rea- 
soned with him and did not visit his crime with 
the punishment it deserved. He was to bear the 
burden of his sin in a life cursed. By some vis- 
ible mark it was known that he was God's pris- 
oner and was not to be killed. It is evident as 
we read on that the curse was not in the depriva- 
tion of worldly comforts and blessings. For the 
descendants of Cain were the inventors of that 
period, not only in useful arts, but in music as 
well. 

It is to be feared that the forbearance of God 
had but little effect on Cain and his posterity, for 
we read that Lamech, the seventh from Adam, 
was a polygamist and murderer, and seemed to 
boast as if he should escape punishment as Cain 
did before him (4: £3, M), As Abel received 
not the rewards of righteousness in this life, so 
Cain and his descendants were not punished for 
their evil deeds in the present. Cain undoubtedly 
felt the remorse of his guilty deed, but unwilling 
to accept the advice of God, went out, as the nar- 



CAIN AND ABEL 75 

rative reads, "from the presence of Jehovah" 
(4:16). He left the region where his parents 
resided and where we suppose they still sacrificed 
to God, while he himself would no longer worship 
in a way which had proved unacceptable. Gov- 
erned by his fears he built a city, not in our mod- 
ern sense, but a fortified dwelling place. 

(3) SETH 

As Abel had been slain and Cain had gone 
eastward, a new successor of the promise was 
granted in the person of Seth. This line of 
promise towards the Messiah is one kept care- 
fully in view, if not by the human historian, yet 
by God himself. Other sons and daughters were 
bom to our first parents and their descendants, 
but the history never loses sight of the seed of 
the woman and of his personal name, that was 
to bruise the head of the serpent. This personal 
mention does away with the speculation indulged 
in by some that we have in these chapters the 
names of tribes, instead of persons. 

In this line of Seth we come to an interesting 
record in the days of his son Enoch that "then 
men began to call on the name of Jehovah." 
(4:26). What had been the neglect, and what 
was the occasion for this new interest we are not 
informed. Incidentally we learn that some 250 
years after the Fall, there was such an increase 
in the human family that history takes on the 
usual parlance of what belongs to the nation 



76 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

rather than the individual. This service of Je- 
hovah which began in Enoch's time seems to be 
one of those glimpses which we have of the spir- 
itual life before the Flood. 

( 4 ) ENOCH 

A second glimpse comes several generations 
later in the time of Enoch, who, like Lamech of 
the line of Cain, was the seventh from Adam. He, 
apparently roused by the defiance and reckless- 
ness of such men as Lamech, who gloried in their 
"exemption from punishment" prophesied that 
"the Lord would come with ten thousand of his 
holy ones to execute judgment and convict the 
ungodly of their deeds" (Jude 14 and 15 vs ). 
Enoch's translation to the presence of God was 
a still further lesson to those of that age that the 
rewards of righteousness were in the future. 
Long life was a temptation to indulge in wick- 
edness, and so man's days were shortened. Enoch 
only lived out about half of the usual period of 
man's days ; and was not for God took him. Per- 
haps his translation indicated the way in which 
we would have been taken to another world if 
our first parents had not sinned.. The third and 
last glimpse of the spiritual life of this period 
shows a state of sad decline in those who repre- 
sented the Sons of God. 

(5) SOXS OF GOD 

At first sight we might imagine that those thus 



CAIN AND ABEL 77 

designated were angelic beings (as in Job 38:7) 
and thus get the sanction of Scripture to the 
lustful idea of the gods of the heathen, but we re- 
member that man was made in God's image and 
so was entitled to be called his son. And that 
among the descendants of Adam there were those 
like Abel who worshipped aright, and that in 
Enoch's time, there were those who, responsive to 
the original longings of man after God, sought 
him, and that there were men like Enoch and 
Noah who walked with God, and we also know 
from human experience, that those thus walking 
and called his sons, might fall into sin as Israel 
and the church have done, so we conclude that 
there were a goodly number among the descend- 
ants of Seth who had earned the right to the title 
of Sons of God, as in these days we have of being 
called Christians. 

(6) GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 

Doubtless all attentive readers of these first 
chapters of Genesis, are struck with the brevity 
of the record. Here are ten generations covering 
a period of two thousand years (according to the 
Hebrew, 1656 and the Seventy 2262) and after 
the story of the Creation and the Fall, a short 
chapter covers the ground from Adam to Noah. 
But what is written is sufficient to admirably fit 
into the plan of a Revelation of salvation for 
man. 



78 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

First comes the origin of man — made in the 
image of God. 

Second, how he became sinful. 

Third, the consequences of that sinful state, 
(a) in man's depraved nature; (b) in the pun- 
ishment inflicted upon sin. 

The character of God appears in clear accord 
with subsequent revelation (1) Just in the pun- 
ishment of sin. (2) Merciful (a) in the promise 
of victory to the seed of the woman; (b) in sac- 
rifice which looked to a substitute for man's sin; 

(c) in long-suffering to the sinful and rebellious; 

(d) in intimations that immortality would be 
granted to those who walked with God. 

Still further there were some lessons about 
sin. In its simplest form sin is an act of disobe- 
dience. But it is against God, who has placed 
man in the highest position a creature, who is in 
one sense an animal, could occupy. He was linked 
to God, with the implied thought that dominion 
belonged to the higher nature. He yielded to the 
lower nature — acted contrary to the laws and 
position in which God placed him. Disobedience 
in the moral world was like inaccuracy in the phy- 
sical. The motion of the planets is free and 
smooth in their orbits, admitting also of special 
movements, yet the accuracy of revolution is ab- 
solute, admitting of no variation even to the 
thousandth part of a second. So in the sphere of 
moral revolution obedience should be simple, ab- 
solute, and unquestioning to the Father and Ruler 



CAIN AND ABEL 79 

of all. While man is a free moral agent and 
is thus responsible for his own choice, there is 
here clearly stated the agency of the devil in 
tempting man — a fact which is recognized 
through the whole of subsequent revelation. 3. 
We have here an admirable study in Psychology: 
(1) The methods of attack on the part of the 
tempter. (2) The yielding and excuses on the 
part of the tempted. (3) The growth of envy 
into hatred and murder. (4) The way of escape 
offered and resisted, and the effect of remorse and 
fear. Here are pictures of actual reality, true in 
every age, and plainly indicative of the need of 
divine help, as the tendency of man to go astray 
is seen to be so strong. 



• CHAPTER VI 

CHRONOLOGY 

Before proceeding with the next great physical 
fact, it may be well to say a few words with ref- 
erence to Chronology. Chronology is only the 
dry bones of history. History begins with man — 
with Adam, according to the Bible. Adam was 
created in God's image, as the last and highest 
of the animal creation, and for whom all the other 
parts of creation had been made subservient. In 
this science agrees perfectly with revelation. 
When he was created is in a measure pointed out 
by both in perfect harmony with one another. It 
would naturally be, when all things were made 
ready for his appearance. Certainly it would not 
be in the carboniferous period, when the atmos- 
phere was not purified and when the animals 
were not suited to his tastes and wants. Nor 
would it be in the time of cave-bears, cave-lions, 
hyenas and other carniverous beasts, when some 
have fancied the bones of our ancestors have been 
found. It would not have been before or in the 
intense cold of the Glacial period, when many 
types of animals were destroyed. But a more fit- 
ting time would be when the garden, like the 
earth, of which it was a part, was complete — ^when 
its continents with up-heaved mountain ranges 
and river systems, received their final adjustment, 
when the grapes, grains and fruits for man's use, 

80 



CHRONOLOGY 81 

and for the birds, fishes and animals that were to 
be his companions and helpers had been created — 
then and not till then would seem the time to in- 
troduce man into the world over which he was to 
have dominion. Through successive stages and 
during many long periods of time, the construc- 
tion of the pyramid had been going on, and the 
lines converging towards the Apex, and when it 
had been reached in man, the image of his Crea- 
tor, what else could be expected than that the 
work of creation should cease? Can we through 
science, approximate to the time of this consum- 
mation and completion? The first attempts to 
compute the time geologically were from the time 
occupied in the erosion of rivers, as for example, 
the Niagara gorge. At first Lyell thought that 
it must have taken one hundred thousand years to 
have worn back the rock to its present position. 
More careful observations have made great reduc- 
tions in this estimate, and now the general con- 
sensus of authority is that "the post-glacial time 
cannot be more than ten thousand years, and 
probably not more than seven thousand." (See 
Dr. Orr's "God's Image in Man," p. 175). How 
strikingly near this comes to Biblical representa- 
tion of the time when man appeared, is apparent. 
We have two witnesses, one stating that man was 
created about six thousand years ago, and the 
other declaring that the world was not ready for 
his appearing until a period ranging from seven 
to ten thousand years ago, and inclining to the 



82 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

smaller number. In view of this argument there 
are certain conclusions that may be put down as 
highly probable, though they have been disputed 
by critics of high authority. 

1. As to man's appearance on the earth, the 
conclusion from these two witnesses is that it was 
comparatively recent. Prof. Kent, however, 
affirms that the combined evidence of archaeology, 
anthropology and geology indicate that man has 
existed on the earth at least twenty-five thousand 
and probably one hundred thousand years." 
("Historical Bible," vol. 1, p. 5). This of course 
is to allow time for the evolution of man from 
anthropoid ancestors. It is not necessary to re- 
peat the arguments (see above, p. 50) to show 
that the gap between animal and man cannot be 
bridged by time, however long, but by the creative 
power of God. And as we have just stated, geol- 
ogy in the progressive stages of its development 
was not ready for man's appearance until the 
post-glacial period. 

2. History. We reach a much more precise 
and definite period as to the beginnings of history 
than that which comes to us from any other 
source. It is no little satisfaction to have mists 
and cloud-lands of fabulous record cleared away 
by the sunlight of a simple and authoritative 
statement. Thus according to Berosus, ten kings 
before the Flood reigned for 432,000 years. The 
last of these was Xinthros who reigned 64,800 
years, and is supposed to correspond to Noah. 



CHRONOLOGY 83 

(See Driver's "Genesis," p. 80). These absurdly 
fabulous periods of the historians are paralelled 
by the ages of the Paliolithic and Neolithic man, 
the stone age, the iron age, etc., before our sav- 
age ancestors reached civilization. The strange 
thing about this civilization, which blossomed out 
so vigorously, say from 4000 to 5000 B. C, is 
that it was hardly surpassed by later develop- 
ments. The monuments make mention of sculp- 
tors, brick-makers, carpenters, masons, smiths, 
including those who worked in gold and silver, 
jewellers, potters, miners and weavers and basket 
workers. Cuniform writing had been invented, 
the length of the solar year (S65 1-4 days) had 
been determined, and eclipses predicted. (See 
"Historical Bible," pp. 6-7). Prof. Clay in his 
book, "Light on the Old Testament from Babel," 
refers to a silver vase, the date of which he gives 
as 4100 B. C. This vase with its engravings of 
birds and animals, is so elaborate a piece of work- 
manship — "comparable in many respects with 
our own," that one could hardly believe it to be of 
so ancient a date (p. 52). This early civilization 
came as a surprise to those who imagined that 
long ages were necessary to the development of 
art and industry in our savage ancestors, but it 
is just what we might expect if our first parents 
were created in the image of God and lived on for 
nearly a thousand years. Long experience and 
native ability would have made them proficient not 
only in meeting necessities, but in the invention of 



84 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

those things pertaining to ease and luxury. And 
so we read in the brief record of their inventing 
instruments of music as well as making instru- 
ments of brass and iron (4:21 and 22). And 
then when a vessel was needed to save themselves 
and the animals from destruction by the Flood, 
they had all the art and capacity necessary for 
such an undertaking. God directed as to the 
main features, but the details were left to Noah 
and his helpers. 

A corrected chronology is therefore much 
briefer and more in accordance with the facts of 
the case as revealed by the monuments of the past. 
This is its broad general aspect. When we come 
to the question of centuries — much remains to be 
adjusted. In the sacred record the ruling idea is 
to give the line of succession culminating in Christ 
— the seed of the woman. Its accuracy in this re- 
spect is unquestioned. But yet it has not seemed 
necessary to mention all the names. We have ex- 
amples of such omission by comparing Ezra 7 : 1- 
5 with 1 Chron. 6 : 3-14, where, according to the 
latter, six consecutive names have been dropped. 
If no names are omitted in the ancestrv of Moses, 
his grandfather had 8,600 male descendants and 
probably as many female in Moses' lifetime (Num. 
3: 27, 28). In the familiar ancestry of David only 
six or seven names cover a period of four hundred 
and eighty years. (See Ruth 4:18 and 1st 
Kings 6:1). Readers of the Bible will also no- 
tice that while we have independent records of 



CHRONOLOGY 85 

years up to the time of Abraham, we have none 
before that to the Deluge, and none between the 
Deluge and Creation. (See various articles of 
Prof. W. Henry Green on the Pentateuch) . How 
much allowance should be made for such omis- 
sions of names, it is hard to say. This much is 
certain, that the Chronology given in the margin 
of the English Bible, which is known as Ushers' 
and which is shorter than any other, is not neces- 
sarily to be followed as correct. This gives the 
date of Creation as 4004 B. C. and of the Flood 
as 2348 B. C. 

A question arises, Are there any dates so posi- 
tively fixed by Babylonian or Egyptian Chron- 
ology as to make any change necessary in the 
Biblical statement so far as dates are known? A 
brief summary of facts as given by the best auth- 
orities will show that a brief lengthening of the 
short chronology of Usher is all that is needed. 
In Babylon the date of the reign of the first king, 
Sargon 1st, is given as 3800 B. C. Before this 
there were nomadic kings or rulers of tribes often 
settled in cities. This previous civilization is sup- 
posed to have extended back to 5000 B. C. Sar- 
gon became the first world conqueror, and under 
his son Naram-Sin, inscriptions are found as far 
West as the island of Cyprus. In Egypt a simi- 
lar state existed — first tribal rule and then con- 
solidation into the Northern and Southern King- 
doms. The Northern, comprising the Delta was 
probably earlier and more advanced than that of 



86 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the valley above. Braested mentions the discov- 
ery of the calendar year of 365 days by astrono- 
mers living in 4241 B. C. (p. 35 of his history of 
Egypt), a discovery which is ascribed by others 
to Babylonians (see above, p. 116), writing in 
hieroglyphics and in a more cursive style was 
probably introduced about this time. The two 
kingdoms of the North and South in Egypt were 
united under Menes in the year 3400 B. C. At 
one time he was said to have reigned 11,000 years 
before the Christian Era. Historic civilization is 
placed by Petrie and others at 5000 B. C. 

It is seen therefore that a high state of civiliza- 
tion existed before the Deluge; and that it cor- 
responded in point of time to the inventive era 
mentioned in Genesis. How to account for this 
is the question which spontaneously arises in the 
mind of every thoughtful reader. The evolu- 
tionary theory is that it gradually arose from 
savagery and barbarism through a long period of 
thousands of years. But observation during the 
historic period does not confirm this theory. The 
two ways out of savagery to civilization* which 
are known to men are either by God's direct 
agency as in the call of Abraham and of the 
prophets and especially by the mission of Christ, 
or by the Church taking the initiative and intro- 

*Dr. Whately in his Lecture on the "Origin of Civilization'* 
makes the following remark: " Facts are stubborn things and 
that no authenticated instance can be produced of savages 
that ever did emerge unaided from that state is no story but a 
statement hitherto never refuted of a matter of fact. ' ' ( Quoted 
by Dr. Orr in his work "God's Image in Man," p. 187.) 



CHRONOLOGY 87 

ducing the seeds of new ideas. In every case the 
intellectual uplift has been through the moral, or 
else it has been temporary and lapsed into bar- 
barism. The only satisfactory solution therefore, 
is the Biblical, that God made man upright, with 
mental and moral capacities of the highest order 
— ^waiting only for their development and growth 
in earthly surroundings. Man's long life before 
the Flood gave him exceptional advantages for 
this development, through the seeds of corruption, 
were working within him. At length moral cor- 
ruption set in, as we are told in Genesis, and the 
devotion to idolatry in Babylon and Egypt is 
abundantly confirmed by the monuments. And 
nothing is more evident than the debasing effects 
of idolatrous worship on those who practise it. 
The tendency downward was not arrested by the 
severe punishment of the Deluge. And thus came 
in the savage state by departure from God, and 
not by the inherent weakness of our anthropoid 
ancestors. 

A third conclusion crowns the record. Since 
we find that in every point the Biblical account 
best agrees with the facts as recorded in nature — 
in man's constitution, condition and early history, 
we have no hesitation in ascribing it to the same 
divine care, which called Abraham and sent Christ 
into the world, and say, it is a Revelation from 
God. Some of the facts could not be known by 
man; others could be handed down by tradition. 
And so God and man co-operated as in all works 



88 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

pertaining to man's salvation. But I marvel at 
two things : First, the brevity of the record when 
it had to do with those "men of renown" living 
before the Flood; and second, its constant adher- 
ence to the great truth of one God, the Creator 
and Governor of the world, while all other litera- 
ture is persistently saturated with idolatry. And 
so we consider the record God-inspired, rather 
than derived from Babylon or any other human 
source. 

A fourth conclusion is somewhat anticipatory. 
The long lives of the Antediluvians had not only 
their effect on civilization, but in the increase of 
population during these two thousand years. 
How far man was scattered over the globe and 
how numerous the population, it is impossible to 
say. We cannot tell about the destruction of life 
by wars, pestilence, and other calamities. Neither 
do we know positively about the rate of increase, 
whether the same as in our day augmented by the 
great longevity of the Antediluvians. Prof. 
Townsend however, makes the calculation of the 
population of the earth in the thirteenth century 
after Creation, on the basis of doubling every 
thirty-three and a half years, instead of every 
twenty-five, to have been sixteen hundred and 
forty-nine billions, two hundred and sixty-five 
millions (p. 50, "Deluge History or Myth"). 
This seems almost incredible when we have been 
accustomed to think from the brief history of 
the few names mentioned, that the population of 



CHRONOLOGY 89 

the globe could not have extended beyond the Eu- 
phrates and Mediterranean basins. But probably 
two thousand years elapsed between Creation and 
the Deluge, or say the same length of time as from 
the birth of Christ to the present, and how rapid 
have been the changes. And so we are to remem- 
ber what might have been accomplished by the 
migrations and civilization of a stalwart race liv- 
ing as many centuries as we do years. Prof. 
Townsend's calculation implies a dense population 
reaching to the remotest corners of the earth. 
He thinks, and there are reasons advocated by 
others, that North and South America were more 
accessible before the Deluge than now, and that 
there has been a subsidence of the connection be- 
tween New Guinea and Australia and of the 
islands in the South Pacific. Perhaps there was 
in that portion of the globe a vast continent of 
which we see the mountain peaks and ranges in 
the Hawaiian and other groups of islands. There 
will be occasion to refer to this subject again in 
the next chapter. It is alluded to now to show 
that it may be necessary to rectify our thinking 
about the civilization and population of the globe 
in the Antediluvian period. 

It will be seen that no attempt has been made to 
adjust chronology to any given standard, but 
merely to show that adjustability is possible; and 
also to show that science and revelation, so far 
from being, antagonistic, are really in harmony 
and like mortice and tenon fit into one another in 
supporting the truth. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE FLOOD 

GENESIS, CHAPTERS 6. 7, AND 8 

In considering this topic there are two aspects 
which require attention — one is the physical fact 
and the other the moral, or the Deluge as a pun- 
ishment of sin and the escape therefrom by Noah 
and his family. As a physical fact it is only one, 
perhaps the last of many subsidences of the land, 
which have taken place on a large scale in the 
geological history of the globe. We often think 
there is nothing so stable as the solid ground. 
But the most permanent and changeless thing in 
its past history has been the water. Dry land was 
first called out of the deep, and evidence is abun- 
dant everywhere of constant elevations and de- 
pressions. Coal beds were elevated and the rank 
vegetation grew luxuriantly, and then it was 
sealed up by depression and compression under 
water and often under stratified rock, and in many 
cases, elevated again and the process repeated. 

With regard to the depression accompanying 
the Xoachian Deluge, which is indicated by "the 
fountains of the great deep being broken up," 
there are two questions (1) when did it occur .^ and 
(S) was it universal.^ There are some facts, 
however, which it is well to mention before decid- 
ing these questions very positively. First, Geol- 
ogists agree that prior to the appearance of man, 

90 



THE FLOOD 91 

there was a disappearance of the large carniverous 
animals. Mr. Alfred Wallace in his work on the 
"Distribution of Animals," speaks "of the recent 
and almost universal change that has taken place 
in the character of the fauna on the entire globe" 
(Vol. 1, p. 149). Not only has this taken place 
with regard to cave-lions, bears, etc., but arma- 
dillos, large horses and tapirs. And in Australia 
kangaroos as large as an elephant are among the 
extinct fauna. With reference to this sweeping 
away of so many large and fierce animals, he says 
it was an item of mercy in the judgment of the 
flood, for it made the world a better habitation 
for man (lb. Vol. 1, p. 150). The use of the 
word "flood," was doubtless an inadvertence by 
Mr. Wallace, for he thinks that this change in the 
fauna of the globe took place at the time of the 
Glacial epoch, some fifty or one hundred thou- 
sand years ago. We are inclined to accept the 
conclusion that the Glacial epoch and its accom- 
panying cold is largely responsible for the de- 
crease of the gigantic carniverous animals. But 
there are some animals, notably the Mastodon, 
that seem to have become extinct at a later period. 
Their bones have been found near the surface 
in bogs or peat beds, and in their stomachs re- 
mains of twigs of trees, representing the present 
flora of our globe. 

In this connection it is well also to notice an- 
other fact. Since the Glacial epoch there is evi- 
dence of a submergence of at least a great part 



92 THE BEGIXXIXG OF THINGS 

of the northern hemisphere under the waters of 
the sea. The deposit made by this submergence 
consists of marine gravel, or, as it is called from 
its character in certain localities, inundation mud. 
Thus one of the hills in the Snowden range in 
Xorth Wales is covered with a marine gravel at 
a level of 1,130 feet above the sea. And this 
gravel contains shells in abundance — all of exist- 
ing species. Prof. Presturch says that the same 
submergence prevailed over the whole of Ireland, 
the whole of Wales, all the center and north of 
England, and over the whole of Scotland. A large 
part of Russia and all Xorthern Germany are also 
included. Italian geologists report gravels with 
three hundred kinds of existing shells, piled up 
at elevations of twenty-four hundred feet above 
the Mediterranean. Charles Darwin speaks of 
massive marine gravels in Patagonia and their 
connection with the destruction of the great mam- 
malia of South America. (See Duke of Argyll's 
paper in "Nineteenth Century Magazine," Jan., 
1891, p. 24). The question arises, was this sub- 
mergence synchronous with the Flood? In dis- 
cussing this question, it is necessary to free our- 
selves from the present stable conditions of land 
and water. Subsidence and elevation seem to have 
been a part of the continuous history of the earth 
after the Glacial period. Oceans swept over parts 
of what is now dry land. And great lakes with 
immense outlets covered large parts of continents. 
In addition to what has been said on a previous 



THE FLOOD 93 

page about the condition in Europe, it is said 
that the great lakes of our own land were one vast 
body of water, and the Mississippi, fifty miles 
wide. This period is called the Champlain period 
when the lake which gives the names, must have 
reached the Highlands of the Hudson River Val- 
ley, and the St. Lawrence was an arm of the 
ocean, five hundred feet deep at Montreal. It was 
probably in this period that the great loess de- 
posits along the banks of the Hoang-ho in China 
were made (Dana's Geology, pp. 354 and 661). 
Of course with these floods, the erosion of river 
beds was greater than now. But there was an- 
other force in prominent action, and that is 
earthquakes. Not only was there the upheaval 
of mountain ranges, the twisting and scattering 
of rocks, but also change of river channels, which 
have been made more complete by the action of 
water. The great canons of the Rockies and the 
present channel of the Hudson River through the 
Highlands testify to the mighty power, which was 
so prevalent at that time all over the earth. We 
would not therefore confound this period of great 
floods, great convulsions, upheaving of mountain 
ranges, digging out channels of rivers, fashion- 
ing soil and climate, with the period of a com- 
pleted earth and that milder and shorter catas- 
trophe of the Noachian Deluge, when man had 
been placed in possession of his abode and was 
punished for his sin. 

It is to be acknowledged then that this view 



94 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

of the succession of events after the Glacial 
period makes it a little uncertain about ascribing 
the presence of marine shells and other marks of 
inundation to these earlier subsidences or to the 
Noachian Deluge. There is, for example, in the 
Hudson River Valley evidence of drift of clay, 
gravel and sand under water, belonging appar- 
ently to the convulsive period after the Glacial, 
when a way was opened to the sea through the 
granite of the Highlands. Later than this, if our 
conceptions are correct, comes a destruction of 
large animals different from those destroyed by 
glacial cold — such, for example, as the Mastodon 
found near the surface, and having in their 
stomachs undigested twigs of spruce and fir. 
(Dana, p. 567). This looks like an effect of the 
waters of the Flood, and if corroborated by other 
evidence would be an argument for the universal- 
ity of the Flood. For the Mastodon was an in- 
habitant of Europe as well as of America. But 
the time has not come to be positive about the uni- 
versality of the Deluge from Geology alone. 

Let us proceed, therefore, to consider other ar- 
guments for its universality and also such objec- 
tions as it seems necessary to notice. (1) It is 
said by some that there is not water enough on 
the earth to cover the highest mountains. This 
is doubtless true if we suppose that an extra 
quantity was needed to cover mountains five miles 
high. But the subsidences of the land, which 
have often occurred at different periods of the 



THE FLOOD 95 

world's history would solve that problem. The 
fountains of the great deep were broken up, as 
well as accompanied with a continued and heavy 
rain fall. 

(2) Another difficulty is the size of the ark 
and the number of animals to be accommodated. 
But it was evidently constructed for its carrying 
capacity. And it is to be remembered that it 
was built on the plan of him who knew what was 
needed, and for the purpose of rescuing so much 
of animal life as he did not wish to be destroyed. 

(3) In connection with this gathering of ani- 
mals to the ark, there comes the question, how 
wide was the range from which they were gath- 
ered? From the immediate vicinity it would not 
be a matter of great difficulty. But when seas 
had to be crossed, as in the case of the Marsupial 
or Kangaroo family, from Australia, or the North 
American bison or the Armadillo of South 
America or the limited range, say of birds of 
Paradise; and then back again to their former 
habitat, without leaving some trace of their origin 
where the Deluge is known to have occurred, the 
difficulty assumes proportions which has led not 
a few to contend for a limited rather than a uni- 
versal Deluge. It is to be noted, however, that 
the existing species of all these animals, is not 
more than one-third the size of those that have 
passed away. "In South America over one hun- 
dred species of extinct Quaternary quadrupeds 
have been made out." (Dana, p. 568). This 



96 THE BEGIXXIXG OF THIXGS 

Quaternary period is the period of man, but how 
early in it he was created, and whether the ex- 
tinction of the larger animals was owing to the 
Flood or to pre^dous subsidences ; and if to the 
Flood, how the present species reached their pres- 
ent habitat, are questions which are still under 
discussion. 

(4) Those who hold to a limited Deluge also 
hold that there is no hiatus or break in the civili- 
zation before and after the Flood. It would seem 
as though this should be the case, and possibly if 
more thorough investigation were made with this 
thought in view, such break would be found. But 
it is remarkable that in the Scripture narrative 
where the punishment is sent to correct the evil in 
man, there seems but little break in the tendency 
to idolatry. Xoah Hved after the Flood, three 
hundred and fifty years, and must have been a wor- 
shipper of Jehovah all his days, but his descend- 
ants went sadly astray, with the exception of 
such sporadic cases as Melchisedec, and probably 
the patriarch Job. 

The idea of a limited Deluge is followed by two 
classes of expositors. One class, seeing the diffi- 
culty about the distribution of animals in gath- 
ering them over seas and sending them back to 
their former habitat, have adopted the view that 
man where he existed (that is, in the Mediterra- 
nean and Euphrates basins) was overtaken and 
punished by the Flood, but the rest of the world 
was undisturbed, and that this answered all the 



THE FLOOD 97 

purposes intended as a punishment upon man. 
The language of universality was used from the 
writer's standpoint, as Paul speaks of the gospel 
as preached to every creature under heaven (Col. 
7:28). There is no intention on their part of 
denying the original record. 

Another class of expositors — represented by 
Canon Driver — go still further, and maintain 
that the true origin of the Biblical narrative 
about the Flood is found in the Babylonian story, 
and that it was confined to the narrow limits of 
the Tigris Euphrates valley. It is true that the 
Babylonian story has many points in common 
with the Biblical statement, as the gathering of 
animals, the sending out of birds. But it falls 
far short in not recognizing one God and the 
great purpose for which the judgment was sent. 
In the Bible it is a punishment for sin with the 
great typical idea of escape through faith and 
obedience to God's command. In the Babylonian 
story it is the mere saving of life when a city was 
to be destroyed through the anger of the gods. 
And in the details the ship is seven stories like a 
pagoda on land with the unnecessary additions 
of rudder and mast, while the ark is simply a 
floating refuge with the proper three stories, and 
designed for its carrying capacity. And if the 
Flood was limited to the Euphrates Valley, why 
was it necessary to gather not only clean but un- 
clean animals and creeping things, since the earth 
could have been easily supplied with such crea- 
tures from the regions not overflowed. 



98 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

But more directly let us notice the arguments 
for the universality of the Deluge. 

PROOFS OF UNIVERSALITY 

1. It was universal with respect to man. This 
is hardly assented to, by those who hold that the 
Flood was confined to the Euphrates basin. But 
those who think it was limited with respect to 
animal life generally believe that it reached all 
mankind, as it was sent upon them as a punish- 
ment for their sin. The impression in reading the 
Bible is that as it only relates events connected 
with nations residing in Egypt, Eastern Europe 
and Western Asia, that man had not penetrated 
to the regions beyond. But when we consider 
that two thousand years probably elapsed between 
Creation and the Flood, and that the increase of 
the human family with their long lives was far 
greater than at present, the conclusion of Prof. 
Townsend that the population of the globe was 
up among the billions, seems correct. (See above, 
p. 127). We know that the Israelites increased 
in two hundred and fifteen years from seventy 
souls to six hundred thousand armed men, or 
about two millions, all told. It is necessary there- 
fore to correct our first impressions about the 
limited part of the globe occupied by man in the 
time of Noah, and suppose that the race was 
spread abroad wherever there was the means of 
subsistence. Ships may have been no new thing 
when the ark was built, as recent discoveries have 
shown that they were not in Solomon's time. 



THE FLOOD 99 

2. A second argument in favor of the univer- 
sality of the Deluge is the language and thought 
of the Bible. True, many have been disposed to 
limit the language to the then known world. But 
II. Peter 3 : 5-7 can only mean that as the whole 
material world had been destroyed by water, so it 
should be by fire. Strong as is this language, 
even more strong seems the argument from the 
evident thought of God in revelation. For two 
thousand years men were left to see if they would 
seek after God. They had the argument from his 
works spread out before them. They dug for 
iron and worked the precious metals, and pon- 
dered the movement of star and planet and fixed 
with accuracy the Solar year, and yet found not 
wisdom (See Job 28), except the so-called Sons 
of God for a time, and they went astray with the 
crowd. And beyond that the severe judgment of 
the Flood was not a remedy against the prevail- 
ing tendency to idolatry. Corruption was uni- 
versal. (Ps. 14). As corruption was universal 
so was the punishment. The law was, the soul 
that sinneth it shall die. And so its expression 
in the type was universal. But beyond the type 
expressed by the universality of the Deluge came 
another idea, and that is of escape. This was 
symbolized by the ark. As to our first parents, 
there was mercy in the promise that the head of 
the serpent should be bruised by the seed of the 
woman, so to Noah, the second head of the race, 
came the type of salvation in the midst of de- 
struction. 



100 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

The conclusion therefore which seems to best 
agree with all the facts of the case, is that the 
Deluge was universal. The distribution of ani- 
mals over the earth's surface, the difficulty of 
gathering them across seas and returning them to 
their former habitat without leaving a trace of 
their origin presents a difficulty which we know of 
no way of overcoming. But over against that is 
the destruction of a class of animals represented 
especially by the Mastodon which were evidently 
destroyed, not by glacial cold as were many of 
the huge carnivorous beasts, nor apparently by 
later cataclasms before man was created, but to 
a later period, which is represented by the 
Noachian Deluge. 

It remains to look briefly at the sin, the pun- 
ishment, and the escape. 

THE SIN OF THE ANTEDIIiUVIANS 

The sin which is specially mentioned is that 
against the marriage relation. Not that there 
were not other sins, as for example, idolatry, 
which we know from other sources was conspicu- 
ously prevalent. But this is singled out as a sin 
against the foundations of society, which this 
book is specially concerned in upholding. Mar- 
riage between one man and one woman was the 
primal order, as God first instituted it. Any 
deviation from that rule always brought disaster 
in the household, and its widespread violation 
would weaken the family tie, let loose violence and 



THE FLOOD 101 

passion, and introduce savagery and barbarism 
even more quickly and directly than idolatry. 
Two particulars of this sin of the Antediluvians 
are mentioned: First, Polygamy. They took them 
wives, it is said, of all that they chose (6:2). 
The primal order seems to have been the custom 
until the time of Lamech, the seventh from Adam 
in the line of Cain. He had two wives. In the 
line of Seth, we do not know that there was any 
departure from the original law, until this period. 
Second, The ground of their choice was not any 
consideration of what such marriages might lead 
to, or whether it was right in the sight of God or 
no, but simply that they were fair. At first the 
result seemed favorable. Their children were 
mighty men — men of renown. In what way their 
might was shown, we are not informed. But suc- 
cess does not prove we are right. In fact while 
they were glorying in their strength God was 
grieved over their wickedness. The strong lan- 
guage is used that it repented the Lord that he 
had made man on the earth (6:6). Such lan- 
guage is used from the standpoint of human ob- 
servation and experience. The result had not 
been what might justly have been expected. All 
flesh had corrupted its way. The creation of the 
highest being on earth and placing him as Lord 
over other creatures seemed to be a failure. He 
was not carrying out the purpose of a being made 
in God's image, which would be to keep the ani- 
mal, the material part of his nature subject to 



102 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the spiritual. Of course in the great and glori- 
ous plan to be unfolded in the ages, it was no 
failure, but for the present it looked so. The 
so-called Sons of God were one in transgression 
with the others, and hence the determination — in 
which divine repentance agrees with the human — 
to annul the past and commence anew. 

The punishment sent was not without warning. 
There are two interpretations of the phrase, "Yet 
shall his days be a hundred and twenty years" 
(6:3). One would refer it to the shortening of 
man's life, which took place after the Flood. And 
the other that the warning of the coming Flood 
was given one hundred and twenty years before 
it actually took place. Some would say that 
Noah was engaged for that time in building the 
ark, and that thus he was a preacher of righteous- 
ness both by his words and deeds. 

ARK 

The great thought of mercy was specially rep- 
resented by the Ark. From this time forward it 
stands out as a type of salvation from universal 
and overwhelming destruction. It is implied that 
others beside Noah might have availed themselves 
of this refuge had they been so inclined. But 
while Noah was making preparation others of his 
generation continued as before, marrying and 
giving in marriage, until the day he entered into 
the Ark (Matt. 24:31). 



THE FLOOD 103 

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS 

One specification about clean and unclean ani- 
mals may look as though there was an anticipa- 
tion of what took place under the Mosaic Dispen- 
sation. But the institution of sacrifice necessarily 
drew the line between those proper for that ser- 
vice, and those that were not. How far this dis- 
tinction went, we cannot say. But it was prob- 
ably very much enlarged upon in the Levitical 
law. 

As a type of divine mercy, the Ark suggests 
these thoughts: 1. It was salvation from punish- 
ment, and that punishment meant destruction. 
2. This salvation was safe and complete. It meant 
more than sacrifice, which pointed out a way of 
approach to God. This, that there was a new 
world for the saved. S. That the method, so far 
as Noah was concerned, was the same as that by 
which men have been saved through the ages ; 
and that was by faith. 4. As the heir of the 
righteousness which is by faith, Noah was made 
the second head of the human family and a 
covenant made with him that God would no more 
destroy the earth by water. The sign of the cove- 
nant was the bow in the cloud, whether now for 
the first time visible, or something already exist- 
ing which was made the sign, we can hardly say. 
5. That the type was imperfect, as all types are, 
and so we have the record of Noah's falling into 
sin. (See Fairbank's "Typology of Scripture," 
Vol. 1, p. 272). 



104 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

MESSIANIC PROPHECY 

The sin of Noah was made the occasion of the 
second prophecy respecting the Messiah. The 
promise according to the arrangement of the 
Hebrew, is that God shall enlarge Japheth and 
shall dwell in the tents of Shem. According to 
this view, God is the subject of both verbs. An- 
other interpretation is that Japheth shall dwell in 
the tents of Shem, which however apparently true 
in these latter days, when European nations are 
occupying Asia, does not seem to be the refer- 
ence here. Enlargement to Japheth is true, but 
the great Messianic promise is to Shem. The 
victory over the serpent is to come, not merely 
through the seed of the woman, but through God's 
dwelling in the tents of Shem. What that dwell- 
ing was to be and how he should come in the 
flesh is left for later prophecies Of the three sons 
of Noah, Shem is pointed out as in the line of 
promise. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE ETHNOLOGICAL RECORD AND 
CONFUSION OF TONGUES , 

GENESIS, CHAP. 10 AND 11 : 1-10 ! 

The two facts stated in this chapter, viz., the 
ethnological record and the confusion of tongues, 
are necessarily preliminary and commend them- 
selves to the ordinary judgment, as the best and 
most truthful historical statement that could be 
given of the interval between the Deluge and the 
calling of Abraham. It is somewhat of a sur- 
prise that the attempt should be made to throw 
suspicion on the truthfulness of this record ; but it 
seems to follow as a result from denying the auth- 
enticity of the previous chapters. When it has 
been granted that the creation of man reaches 
back thousands of years before the Biblical rec- 
ord — that there were different race-centers in- 
stead of mankind being descended from a single 
pair, and that the Deluge was local instead of 
universal, then we can also believe that the de- 
scendants of Noah were imaginary persons and 
the confusion of tongues a fundamental race dis- 
tinction instead of the confusion of one common 
tongue. If, however, we hold to the view that 
the previous chapters are correct, then this rec- 
ord of the nations is eminently satisfactory, for 
it gives (1) The great divisions of the human 
family as they are recognized today — the sons of 

105 



106 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

Shem occupying Asia, Japheth Europe, and Ham 
Africa. The exceptions which occur in this dis- 
tribution are pointed out with sufficient accuracy 
and agree with the narrative of subsequent events. 
The prominent exceptions occur among the 
earlier descendants of Ham — Canaan occupied 
Palestine, until they were dispossessed by the 
Children of Israel. Nimrod also, the founder of 
the Babylonian Empire, the conqueror of Assyria 
and the builder of Ninevah was the Son of Cush 
(10: 8-12). And yet into that same region went 
the Children of Eber, a descendant of Shem (v. 
21.) (2) Though many names cannot now be 
recognized, yet many of them agree with lands 
and places which have become familiar in histori- 
cal periods — as Cush for Ethiopia, Mizraim for 
Egypt, Canaan for the primitive people of Pal- 
estine. 

(3) Babylon, both by Scripture and according 
to human record, is the first city which was built 
after the Flood — or was it rebuilt? It is certain 
that the disposition to centralize there was ob- 
noxious to the divine plan. Why, is not clear. If 
it was to escape another Flood, when God had as- 
sured Noah that it would not take place, it would 
seem as though they would have built a tower on 
a mountain instead of a plain. Could it have been 
in any way an act of defiance in rebuilding cities 
which had been prominent and well-known before 
the Flood, and perhaps noted for their wicked- 
ness? If this supposition is tenable that the at- 



CONFUSION OF TONGUES lOT 

tempt was to rebuild Babylon, rather than first 
found it, we can easily account for a chronology 
on the part of the Assyrian Babylonian Empire 
which goes back to 5000 B. C. 

(2). THE BUILDING OF BABEL AND THE CON- 
FUSION OF TONGUES 

(Genesis 11: 1-10.) 

This is the last of the series of great historical 
facts recorded in the first part of Genesis. They 
are facts in the province of nature which concern 
all nations and all parts of the globe. It is evi- 
dent that sin was not held in check by the terrible 
punishment of the Deluge; much less was it elim- 
inated from man's thought and action. As the 
race began to multiply, they repeated over again 
the evil of their ancestors. It was the spirit of 
self-reliance instead of seeking for divine wisdom 
and guidance. It has been called the birth of 
heathenism, if indeed its birth should not be 
traced back to Cain and his descendants. Nimrod 
the strong, the mighty hunter, is their leader and 
representative. Their thought is expressed in 
their saying, "Let us make a name.'' The word 
translated name is the same with Shem — who as 
the holder of the special Messianic promise, it is 
thought, did not share in the scheme for the cen- 
tralization of the race in the plain of Shinar. 

(3) SPEECH 

The method adopted for stopping their ambi- 



108 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

tious scheme was very different from the over- 
whekning destruction of the Flood. How the 
confusion of speech came we can hardly tell. 
Speech, in the first place, we suppose to have been 
a gift of God. There was first the gift of 
thought and reason, and then the power of ex- 
pression or the gift of speech. As Trench says, 
"God did not teach man words, as one of us 
teaches a parrot, but gave him the capacity and 
then evoked the capacity which he gave." ("Study 
of Words," p. 15, quoted by Drummond in "As- 
cent of Man," p. 178). 

The latter writer, with other Evolutionists be- 
lieves in the gradual development of the vocal or- 
gans, through different embryonic stages, from the 
lower animals, until the power of speech was 
reached. On the other hand, our view of the Bib- 
lical statement is that the perfect man, made in 
the image of God, had the power of expression 
given, as well as reason and capacity of thought. 
This power of expression, tested by man's nam- 
ing the animals, was undoubtedly developed and 
added to, as experience demanded. This became 
the one language of earth before the Flood, and 
after, until the building of Babel. TMiat that 
language was, whether wholly lost, or one of the 
three great family stock of languages, the record 
does not determine. It is something that the thou- 
sand different languages now existing on the earth 
can be reduced to three groups — ^the Semitic, the 
Aryan and the Turanian. Taylor Lewis likens 



CONFUSION OF TONGUES 109 

the relationship of these three to the geological 
formation of the rocks — the Semitic representing 
the primitive formation — the Aryan the stratified 
formation, broken yet presenting much clearness 
of outline and direction, while the Turanian is 
more like confused volcanic masses or solitary 
boulders scattered here and there, yet showing 
marks of the localities from whence they came, or 
some correspondence in the very irregularities of 
their fracture." (In Lange's "Genesis," p. 373). 
As an example of this latter class might be men- 
tioned the language of the Hottentots or Bush- 
men of South Africa, which is described as con- 
sisting of "deep aspirated gutturals, other harsh 
consonants, and a multitude of ugly inimitable 
clicks." (See "Missionary Herald" for 1850, 
p. 173). 

This general relationship of different lan- 
guages has not little weight in proving the wnity of 
the race. Races which have been thought to be 
too antagonistic to be related, have been found to 
be near of kin. Thus through the Sanscrit, the 
ancient and dead language of the Hindoo, it has 
been found that we and they belong to the same 
group, the Indo-European. This seems more re- 
markable when it is remembered that between 
these people of kindred languages, there is inter- 
spersed a dividing sea of Semitic languages and 
peoples represented by the ancient Syriac, He- 
brew and Arabic with their cognate languages. 
In language the Hindoo is a nearer brother to 



110 THE BEGIXXIXG OF THINGS 

the Anglo-Saxon than either is to the Arabs or 
Jews. (See Taylor Lewis in Lange's ''Genesis," 
p. 379). 

Another connecting link is with the Malays 
and the Polynesian group of Islands. For the 
purpose of ascertaining this connection, Wm. 
Von Humboldt investigated the Kawi — a lan- 
guage of Java, and found that it could be 
traced back to the Sanscrit as its root and source. 
There are remains of temples in Java which owe 
their origin to India, but in. the language legends 
and customs of the people, there is a connecting 
influence dating further back. (See ''Princeton 
Review,-- 1852, pp. 290 and 42T). 

To this may be added the testimony of Dr. 
Codrington who has made vocabularies of forty 
of the Mulanesian languages, and says that they 
are not only homogeneous, but a branch of one 
great family, including the Malayan and Poly- 
nesian. Judge Fernander, for over thirty years 
a resident in the Hawaiian Islands, pubHshed a 
volume (Furbush & Co., London, 1885) giving a 
comparative vocabulary of the Polynesian and 
Indo-European languages. If these views are 
correct, an affinity is established with the San- 
scrit for all those diverse and isolated regions ex- 
tending from Madagascar to within forty degrees 
of the west coast of South America. The conclu- 
sion of Prof. W. D. Whitney, who is known as 
one of the most cautious of philologists, is per- 
haps as far as we can go, with our present 



CONFUSION OF TONGUES 111 

knowledge. While he would disclaim for lingu- 
istic science the power to prove that the human 
race in the beginning formed one Society, yet he 
says, "it is even far more demonstrable, that it can 
never prove the variety of human races and ori- 
gins." ("Life and Growth of Language," p. 269). 

In the breaking up the concentration of the 
race, on the plains of Shinar, we have one of those 
divine acts which show the varied control which 
God exercises over the nations. Men go on in 
their own methods for a time, developing arts 
and industry and, it may be, plunging into sin, 
thinking God has no control over human affairs, 
and then like an earthquake, comes a new force, 
showing that God governs, and that his plans 
must be carried out. This was the way at the 
Flood. More quiet, yet equally effectual, was the 
confounding of human speech. Still more noise- 
less and yet even more important was the calling 
of Abraham. 

In confounding the speech of men, the thought 
of God was not merely to stop the town-builders, 
but to scatter the Sons of Noah to people the 
earth. As far as a great structure was concerned. 
Babel was eclipsed not long after, if not in extent, 
certainly in durability, by the great Pyramid. 
This covered thirteen and one-half acres, and was 
480 feet in perpendicular height. Some give the 
date of its erection as about 4000 B. C. A more 
conservative estimate is 2190 B. C. (See Piazzi 
Smith's book on the "Great Pyramid.") This 



112 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

latter date corresponds to the time between the 
confusion of languages and the call of Abraham. 
Other great buildings and temples followed soon 
after, both in Babylon and Egypt, showing that 
man was not, in those early days, lacking in arch- 
itectural skill. And the unearthing of libraries 
with their clay tablets, has shown the great prog- 
ress in literature, even in the more recondite labor 
of forming codes of laws. These indications in 
the way of buildings and literature, show that 
the benumbing and demoralizing tendency of 
heathenism had not yet very largely affected the 
race. After the confusion of tongues and the 
consequent separation and hostility of tribes, 
there would be a settling down into barbarism in 
many lands. The process is one that has been re- 
peating itself — so that the homes of the greatest 
civilization have become the lair of wild beasts; 
and the scattered inhabitants are only able to 
build hovels out of the ruins of the palaces, where 
their fathers dwelt. Progress there has been with 
the race, especially since the purpose of God 
began it, in Abraham and afterwards in Christ, 
but it has kept to no country or people, while 
other cults look to the past for the days of their 
glory. 



PART II 
THE BEGINNING OF THINGS IN GRACE 

FIRST. WITH THE INDIVIDUAL 

SECOND. WITH THE FAMILY 

THIRD. WITH THE NATION 



CHAPTER IX 

GRACE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDI- 
VIDUAL—THE CALLING OF ABRA- 
HAM ON THE DIVINE SIDE 

GENESIS 12. 

Nothing is more obvious, even to the ordinary 
reader of the Bible, than that at the calling of 
Abraham, we open a new chapter in the record of 
God's dealings with man. The eleven chapters 
of Genesis before we reach his time are brief. 
There is a short account of the two thousand and 
more years in which we have the story of Crea- 
tion, the Fall, the Deluge, and the Confusion of 
Tongues. And then a verse or two gives the bio- 
graphy of those men who lived so long, Adam 
and Noah, those two fathers of our race, and liv- 
ing each nearly a thousand years, have but brief 
mention. But when we come to Abraham, who 
is in one sense our spirtual head, it is entirely 
different. When we ask the reason for this, it 
is not far to seek. It is not the length of his 
days, for he lived but a few years, as compared 
with his fathers. It is not that he was a great 
warrior, or a great builder like Nimrod. Many 
migrations went out from the valley of the Eu- 
phrates, but this of Abraham's is the only one 
that attracts the inspired historian. It was 
simply that he was called of God and responded to 
that call. It was but right and natural that man 

115 



116 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

made in the image of God, should seek his fellow- 
ship and presence. But this he failed to do. The 
independent will, which was a part of the image of 
God, showed its alienation as soon as he had 
fallen by hiding from him. And though there 
was a promise of restoration and victory, the first 
born of Adam was a murderer. As men multi- 
plied they all went astray. Even the severe judg- 
ment of wiping out the race, with the exception 
of one family and the shortening their days, did 
not restrain wickedness or lead men to seek after 
God. And so, after the long trial and waiting 
to see if any would seek him, God reverses the 
process and begins the search after man. This is 
Revelation beginning in the call of Abraham, 
passing on to the training of a peculiar people, 
the coming of the God-man who is the restorer of 
the divine image and the head of a spiritual race 
as Adam was of the earthly natural race. This 
new race is typified and represented by Abraham 
the father of the faithful, to whom came the prom- 
ise, and whose faith was accounted for righteous- 
ness, and in Jacob who though weak as a man, 
was through grace a prince with God, and in Jo- 
seph, whose exaltation in Egypt foreshadowed 
the triumph of the new vital principle over the 
powers of darkness. 

(1) INSUFFICIENCY OF NATURAL RELIGION 

In God's calling of Abraham we see, first, the 
insufficiency of natural religion or of any process 



GRACE AND THE INDIVIDUAL 117 

of evolution by which man through his own 
strength and wisdom can reach a clear and cor- 
rect view of God. Much less can he hope for sal- 
vation through any effort of his own. God alone 
can say whether man is to be saved, and if so, 
how. As far as we can interpret God's plans, 
man seems to have been left after the Fall to his 
own desires, to see if he would seek after God. In- 
stead of that, they all went astray. If we seek 
for the reason, why men who built Babylon and 
Nippur and who had the civilization and litera- 
ture found in their ruins, and who also had such 
exceptional representatives of the true faith as 
Melchisedek and the patriarch Job, how they 
could turn aside to idolatry, we can only find the 
reason in the moral obliquity of the race. As 
Adam hid in the garden from God, so his descend- 
ants did not like to retain in their minds the 
knowledge of God. (Rom. 1). At first men seem 
to have deified even Aurora and the powers of 
nature as fire, but these did not rebuke sin any 
more than Baal and Astarti or the four-footed 
beasts, which they substituted in place of the true 
God. The downward tendency towards gross 
idolatry, superstition and savagery is plain and 
manifest the world over. Partly civilized peoples 
look back to a higher condition and to renowned 
sages whom they never expect to equal. The 
Egyptians of today could not build the Pyramids. 
The Chinamen of this century would not think of 
equalling Confucius and Mencius. The stupid 



118 THE BEGIXXIXG OF THINGS 

priests of Buddha walk among shrines and tem- 
ples erected by the active missionaries of their 
faith, who had an eye to beauty and a zeal and 
ability in propagating their system which has long 
since died out. The thought that has saved the 
world from the grossest heathenism, was in the 
divine mind, and first began to be carried out in 
the call of Abraham. 

(S) THE MESSIANIC PROMISE 

This calling was to the reception of the Messi- 
anic promise, that in him, that is, in Abraham, 
should all the families of the earth be blessed 
(12:3). Coupled with that was the promise to 
make of him, a great nation. Here was a great 
advance upon the promise to our first parents. 
That spoke of victory over the serpent, but here 
in addition, was a blessing to all the families of 
the earth. In one sense it was restricted to Abra- 
ham and his seed, but only for the sake of a great 
blessing to all the families of the earth. It was 
the begiuning of the gospel of glad tidings, God 
had done good iu providing a home for man and in 
giving him the blessings of his Pro^ddence, but he 
had been obliged to punish man for his transgres- 
sion. Now he would reveal attributes of love and 
mercy, as they had never been revealed before. 

(3) COVENAXT OF CIBCTTMCISIOX 

In order to make this promise more binding 
God made a covenant by which he as the main 



GRACE AND THE INDIVIDUAL 119 

part, agreed to do certain things to Abraham, 
who, on his part, was to signify his acceptance by 
receiving the sign and seal of the covenant. This 
seal of circumcision has been a witness through 
the ages of God's call to Abraham, and the prom- 
ise made that his seed should be God's people. 
The seal of the covenant had this significance, 
that as man created in the divine image should 
have dominion over the animal within, as well as 
the animals without — so in circumcision the flesh 
with its appetites and passions should be held in 
check. 

(4) PROVIDENTIAL GUIDANCE 

This covenant on the part of God insured 
Providential guidance, instruction and discipline. 
A large portion of the narrative is taken up with 
the details of this guidance. It was both present 
care and provision for the future. A brief sum- 
mary is all that can be attempted. It included 
(1) all the ordinary acts and duties of life, as 
well as those which we would call more spiritual 
and religious. Hagar's eyes were opened to be- 
hold a well of water for the relief of herself and 
son. Abraham's servant was guided in the selec- 
tion of a wife for his master's son. Jacob's self- 
ish life was beaten out of him, not only by visions 
of angels, but by a long course of discipline with 
his still more selfish uncle. Joseph was exalted 
to be ruler of Egypt and saviour of his people, 
not by one sudden step from the shepherd's staff 



120 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

to the royal purple, but through slavery, severe 
temptation, prison and neglect, until his spirit 
was chastened into strong dependence on God. 
And then how important towards the ultimate 
end, were minute and apparently unimportant de- 
tails, such as the sending of the Ishmaelites at 
the right juncture, in turning the purpose of Jo- 
seph's brethren and taking him to Egypt. Then 
the treacherous memory of the chief-butler and 
the recalling of his obligation after two years had 
passed, shows how all things, even the hidden 
workings of the human mind, are under the di- 
vine control. And yet (2) this control or guid- 
ance, does not interfere with the free agency of 
the human actors. The brethren of Joseph, for 
example, thought they were accomplishing their 
purpose. They did their wicked act, told their 
lie to their father, felt the remorse, which natu- 
rally followed their cruelty and deceit. And still 
out of their evil doings God brought about the 
good result of saving much people alive. (3) 
Though this guidance was not limited to occasions 
when it was sought or asked for, yet it was often 
given in answer to prayer. Providence means 
seeing before and a perfect readiness to meet all 
emergencies in advance as well as after they 
have arisen. This anticipatory part of the great 
scheme helps us in understanding that petition 
and answers to petition, are parts of a foreor- 
dained plan and purpose, which God is carrying 
out in the history of individuals and nations. He 



GRACE AND THE INDIVIDUAL 121 

wants his people to come into fellowship with him, 
to ask and receive. He protects from harm, as 
when Laban pursued after Jacob, but in the 
great crisis of his life, when a brother's wrath 
was to be appeased, there was the wrestling, the 
urgent entreaty, and the direct answer to his re- 
quest. Thus prayer was honored — the sup- 
planter became a prince with God, and the scheme 
of Providence included an apparent contradiction, 
in yielding to the wants and supplications of the 
human. (4) Another fact needs to be noticed 
about this guidance, and that is, it was marked 
and peculiar towards the people of God. It is 
said in the Psalms "He suffered no man to do 
them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their 
sakes" (105: 14). Abimelech and his friends who 
came to Isaac at Beersheba said, "We saw cer- 
tainly that the Lord was with thee," and therefore 
they wished to make an oath and covenant, be- 
cause "thou art now blessed of the Lord" (Gen. 
26: 28). This special favor is made very plain 
in the narrative. A distinction is made even be- 
tween Laban and Jacob — ^the latter receiving 
more largely of the gifts of Providence — so that 
he increased exceedingly and had much cattle and 
maid-servants and men-servants and camels and 
asses" (30:43). The same fact was exemplified 
in the brothers Jacob and Esau, where the dis- 
tinction between the two — the one the child of 
promise and the other not — is so great, that it is 
said, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I 



122 THE BEGIXXING OF THINGS 

hated." The whole record carries this impression 
that it was written for the sake of the covenant 
people. All the others are mentioned inciden- 
tally, and as their history is interwoven with that 
of Israel. When Egypt was blessed and the fam- 
ine was in other lands, the pivot around which 
these events revolved was the bringing Jacob and 
his sons into Egypt and saving them alive. 

The discrimination thus shown, was not be- 
cause of the intrinsic goodness of the parties so 
chosen. Jacob, for example, was rightly called 
a supplanter. He readily joined in the deceit to 
rob his brother of his father's blessing. And 
though strictly honest in his dealings with Laban, 
he looked out sharply for his own interests. And 
yet upon him was conferred the blessings of the 
covenant. His sons also, with the exception of 
Joseph, were anything but exemplary young men. 
Envy, murder, lust and revenge were in the list 
of their crimes. These things are clearly and 
frankly recorded, that we may see that it is by 
grace we are saved, and not by our own good 
works ; and also that we as sinners may be encour- 
aged to trust in the covenant and promise of God. 
This fact remains clear and unmistakable that 
God in his Providential guidance, has special care 
for his people. They are the children, for whom 
he builds the house, to whom he gives the educa- 
tion, and who are to receive the inheritance. This 
lesson taught to the Patriarchs runs through the 
whole Bible. The church is the bride, the chosen 



GRACE AND THE INDIVIDUAL 123 

people, the seed corn, through whom the families 
of the earth are to be blessed. The practical les- 
son is not to find fault with this guidance, because 
it is special in its kindness, care and gifts, but so 
to place ourselves in covenant relation to God 
that we shall be sharers in his bounty. God's spe- 
cial love was in this beginning of the gospel, con- 
fined to a single individual and then to his family 
and seed. But it was that the families of the 
earth might be blessed in him. The outflow of 
love is to all — Jew and Gentile — to the spiritual 
not to the natural seed of Abraham. If we listen 
to the call of God, we can be heirs of the prom- 
ise. 

(5) Another thought in connection with this 
care and guidance on the part of God, was the 
clearer light thrown upon the meaning of sacri- 
fice. At the very first, it was made plain that 
sacrifice was not a mere thank-offering, but one of 
the firstlings of the flock, where in some way not 
revealed, life must go for life. Fuller teachings 
seem to have been purposely reserved until the 
occasion had arisen. This was furnished by the 
command of God to Abraham to take his only son 
Isaac to offer him upon the mountain, afterwards 
to be used as a site for temple offerings. Isaac 
as the promised seed, and so representing the 
Jewish race, or more generally the spiritual seed 
of Abraham, was laid upon the altar, showing 
that he deserved to die, and that he was only 
saved by the substitution of a victim appointed 
in his place. 



IM THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

The position of man therefore, as represented 
by Isaac, was that of condemnation — deserving 
death, and only saved by a substitute. Whether 
a lamb could take this place or not, or whether 
it was a type of another and better victim, was 
not so clear. It was for the time, the appointed 
substitute and they had to wait to understand 
what the type signified — whether a lamb, or some 
one who could more adequately take our place. 
While we see the mercy, which Abraham saw in 
providing a lamb instead of his son, we are to 
look further and see mercy meeting justice, assent- 
ing to its claims, fulfilling all the demands of the 
law and yet rescuing the guilty. It is a substi- 
tution of the Creator for the creature, of the holy 
for the sinful, of the Son of God — the Isaac of 
the father's heart — for man, deserving wrath and 
condemnation. 



CHAPTER X 

CALLING OF ABRAHAM FROM THE 
HUMAN SIDE 

So far we have been looking at the caU of 
Abraham from the divine side. We need to see 
the response in the human heart. Before looking, 
however, at those spiritual characteristics, which 
reveal to us the excellency of Abraham as the 
father of the faithful, there are personal features 
which show us the man as he lived in his tents in 
those olden times. Stanley in his "History of the 
Jewish Church" (Sect. 1, p. 12), says the mi- 
gration of Abraham from Mesopotamia differed 
but little in its external aspects from a Bedouin 
chief in modern times, starting with his family, 
his droves and his servants on some journey to a 
distant land. "There are their flocks of sheep 
and goats, and the asses moving underneath the 
towering forms of the camels. The chief is there 
amidst the stir of movement, or resting at noon 
within his black tent, marked out from the rest, 
by his cloak of brilliant scarlet, by the fillet of 
rope which binds the loose handkerchief round his 
head, by the spear which he holds in his hand to 
guide the march and fix the encampment. The 
chief's wife, the princess of the tribe, is there in 
her own tent, to make the cakes and prepare the 
usual meal of milk and butter, the slave or the 
child is ready to bring in the red lentil soup for 

125 



126 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the weary hunter, or to kiU the calf for the un- 
expected guest. 

We cannot but admire the wisdom that thus 
chose Abraham, engaged as he was in the ordinary 
occupations of life. He was to exemplify the 
graces of faith and obedience as he went about his 
daily duties. If he had been called to be a recluse, 
others would have said he does not have to fight 
our battles. He is alone and does not understand 
our surroundings and temptations. What the 
world wanted was the example of one of their own 
numbers living their life of faith when surrounded 
by the present ; and an obedience to the unseen, 
event when the seen was demanding our constant 
care and attention. 

Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah 
and born two years after his death. His father's 
name was Terah, a descendant of Shem. He was 
born in Ur of the Chaldees, B. C. 1996. Ur is 
generally supposed to be the ancient Nippur, 
formerly on the shores of the Persian Gulf, 
though now a hundred miles inland. At the time 
of Abraham's call, this city was a maritime em- 
porium, a walled town, with a high civilization 
and large commerce, situated in a rich country, 
said to be the original home of the wheat plant 
and famous for its dates and other fruits. It 
was also the holy city of the Chaldeans. The 
temple located there has recently been explored, 
showing the polytheistic character of this early 
home of Abraham, and also a high degree of 



CALLING OF ABRAHAM 127 

literary attainment and activity, as witnessed es- 
pecially in the code of Hammurami. The Poly- 
theistic tendency of the times is referred to by 
Joshua in calling upon the people to put away 
the gods which your fathers served on the other 
side of the flood (or, as Kent translates, "beyond 
the River"). The first step in Abraham's jour- 
ney was to Haran, where he remained about five 
years, and where his father Terah died. Haran 
is represented as a large commercial city five 
hundred miles to the northeast of Ur, and where 
Sayce says a native of that place would have 
found himself more at home than in any other 
city of the world. Here Abraham's brother Nahor 
remained and Jacob, the grandson of Abraham 
went thither for his wife. (See Peloubet's Notes 
for 1901, and Geikie's "Hours with the Bible"). 
At Haran came the first intimation to Abra- 
ham of his destination. The "not knowing 
whither he went" (Heb. 11:8), seems to refer 
especially to the period before the departure 
from Haran. In this second stage, he took 
Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all 
their substance that they had gathered, and the 
souls they had gotten in Haran (12:5) and de- 
parted for Canaan, probably by the way Damas- 
cus. From thence they journeyed south through 
the land to Bethel, where he builded an altar unto 
the Lord (v. 8). Here in about the center of 
the promised inheritance, the Lord appeared 
unto him and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this 
land" (12:7). 



128 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

As we pass on to the main features of Abra- 
ham's character, aU must note the fact made clear 
in both Testaments, that faith and its resultant 
fruits, is the grace made prominent in his life. 
"Abraham believed God and it was counted unto 
him for righteousness." (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 
4:3). It belongs to the symmetry of gospel de- 
velopment that a grace so fundamental should 
show itself as the first in order historically. And 
this faith unfolded in the history is the counter- 
part of the same faith in individual believers. The 
first step was renunciation of idolatry and de- 
parture from the land of his fathers. 

The most obvious proof of leaving off any sin- 
ful course of life, is to get up and go away from 
those who practice it. This is set forth by Bun- 
yan in describing Christian as leaving the City 
of Destruction. And it often requires more than 
one warning to get fairly away from our sur- 
roundings. Haran is only half-way to Canaan, 
and many stop there. The effectual caU to 
Abraham was when his destination was made 
known to him. How God appeared on these dif- 
ferent occasions, we know not. It was probably 
in different ways, for once he came as a traveller. 
But his presence and personality and the words of 
promise were clear and distinct. And Abraham 
believed in and worshipped the Lord who appeared 
to him, according to the practice of the worthies 
who had gone before, building an altar wherever 
he pitched his tent. There must have been some- 



CALLING OF ABRAHAM 129 

thing of this true worship kept up by others, as 
probably by Shem and certainly by Melchizedek, 
but the tendency with the great majority was 
towards idolatry. 

Special emphasis is given in Scripture, to 
Abraham's faith in the future. The promise was 
to his seed, and yet he waited, twenty-five years 
for a son. The land in which he dwelt as a 
stranger was to be his, and yet he had no posses- 
sion in it but a burying-place. And then there 
was no history such as we have, to bolster up a 
weak faith against appearances. Noah alone be- 
lieved God about a threatened destruction, and it 
came. Here was a promise of good, would it 
take place? His seed was to be as the sand of the 
sea, and he had no children. 

Another evidence of faith was his obedience. 
This was always prompt at every indication of 
duty. If he was to take a long journey, he took 
his tent, gathered his flocks and his household 
and moved forward. When circumcision was ap- 
pointed as the seal of the covenant, it is said "that 
in the self-same day he did as God said unto him" 
(17:23). And in the great trial of his faith, 
when told to offer up his only son Isaac, the com- 
mand came apparently in a vision of the night, 
for it is said, he rose up early in the morning 
and at once undertook the prescribed duty, 
though so painful and trying to a father's heart. 

And this obedience was not only prompt, but 
unquestioning. The test was severe. It was his 



130 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

only son Isaac, whom he loved — ^the child of his 
old age and the child of promise. He was to take 
him and offer him up for a burnt-offering. It 
was not easy to still the doubts and questionings, 
which must have arisen in his mind, except as in- 
timated in the Epistle to the Hebrews that he ex- 
pected his son's resurrection (11: 19). But what- 
ever way God might adopt of vindicating him- 
seif, Abraham knew his duty was obedience; and 
resolutely undertook it, even to the uplifted knife, 
when God stayed his hand. 

Over against this grace of obedience, was one 
which is, in some measure its opposite, that of 
patient waiting. They who are quick and prompt 
often find it difficult to wait. They wish to be 
up and doing. And so when anything desirable 
is long delayed, the hard thing is to wait, or to 
abstain from using some crooked device of our 
own, instead of accepting God's time and way. 
As a fact, Abraham failed in this particular more 
than in the others mentioned. In accordance with 
the custom of those times, and at the suggestion 
of Sarah, he took a concubine, who bore him Ish- 
mael. Abraham seems to have expected that this 
son should have taken the place of the promised 
seed. It was not in this way, however, that God 
chose to carry out his plans. Marriage as first 
instituted was to be honored, and any departure 
therefrom, however excusable on account of pre- 
vailing custom and the incompleteness of Revela- 
tion, was not to be canctioned. And in this case, 



CALLING OF ABRAHAM 131 

concubinage yielded its usual fruits of jealousy 
and trouble in the household. In the waiting, 
however, God tested Abraham's faith no less than 
by prompt and willing obedience. Through those 
long years — a quarter of a century — it seemed 
as though the promise would fail. From a human 
point of view it seemed impossible — so absurd 
that Sarah laughed with derision, yet God was 
true to his promise, and trained Abraham to that 
important lesson of patient waiting on him alone, 
or of hoping against hope, simply because God 
said so. 

The graces thus far considered are those which 
are specially exercised towards God. They could 
indeed have no existence, unless through an abid- 
ing sense of Jehovah's presence, supreme author- 
ity, and the assurance that he would do all that 
he had promised. Faith in God was the starting 
point, even before Abraham could have left his 
own country and his father's house. And the 
root of obedience, of patient waiting and of those 
kindly graces towards man was faith. He be- 
lieved God, and therefore he did as bidden. He 
believed, and therefore he could wait. He be- 
lieved in God, who was patient and forgiving 
towards him, and therefore he was kind and forgiv- 
ing towards man. There is an apocryphal story 
repeated by Stanley that Abraham was taught the 
lesson of kindness to strangers by God himself. 
It is said that an old man of an hundred years, 
passed Abraham's tent, to whom he offered hos- 



ISa THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

pitality. But when he gave him food and saw 
that he asked no blessing, and that when he lay 
down at night he prayed not to God, Abraham 
ordered him out of his door, because he would 
not worship. When he had gone, God met him 
and said, "Couldst not thou bear with a stranger 
for one night, with whom I have borne for an hun- 
dred years?" Abraham accordingly went after 
the man, brought him back to his tent, and 
treated him kindly. The story may not be true, 
but the truth hid under it is correct, that our best 
instruction in kindly graces towards man comes 
from God's dealings towards us. Perhaps we 
would not be justified in saying that the hospital- 
ity so religiously practised by the Arabs of the 
present day is the direct result of some siich in- 
cident as specified in the story, but he who walks 
with God as Abraham did, as a friend, must feel 
the weight of his example as well as his direct 
commands. The best humanity is that which 
comes into closest contact with divinity. 

It is well to notice other points in his treat- 
ment of others, which show a reflection of his 
friendship with God. One was his treatment of 
his nephew Lot. On account of the increase of 
their flocks, they found it necessary to separate. 
Instead of Abraham insisting on his own rights 
as the elder of the two, and the one to whom the 
promise of the land had been given, he gives to 
Lot the choice. And then when Lot and his neigh- 
bors were captured in a raid by the kings of the 



CALLING OF ABRAHAM 133 

East, instead of leaving him to the just conse- 
quences of his selfish mistake, Abraham shows 
both forgiveness and courage by going to the 
rescue; and in the only warlike expedition of his 
life, conquers chieftains or kings who had made 
this the business of their lives.* And with what 
unselfishness he restores goods as well as per- 
sons, instead of making them the prize of war, 
as was suggested by those whom he had rescued, 
(ch. 14). 

The same high-minded delicacy characterized 
Abraham's dealings with the sons of Heth, when 
he bought the cave of Macpelah for a burying- 
place for Sarah his wife (ch. 22). How elevated 
in tone the whole transaction. These strangers — 
these dwellers in tents, had so impressed upon the 
owners of the soil their honorable dealings and 
methods of living, that they would take no advan- 
tage of them in a bargain, and treated Abraham 
as "a prince of God" among us. The fair and 
honorable man, begat, as was his due, the respect 
and kind treatment of his neighbors. 

It is worthy of remark that Abraham did not 
seek to carry the body of Sarah back to the home 

***Chederlaomer is clearly an Elamite name (Kudur-La- 
gamar). Amraphel may well be the later form of the name 
of the famous Babylonian king Hammurabi who ultimately 
delivered his nation from the Elamite yoke. Ellasar is per- 
haps the Hebrew form of Larsa, one of the important towns 
of Southern Babylonia. The fact that the Elamites ruled 
Babylonia prior to 2200 B.C. and that these Eastern powers 
at times extended their authority to the Mediterranean is es- 
tablished by the testimony of the Babylonian inscriptions." 
(Kent's Beginnings of Hebrew History, p. 85.) 



134 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

of his ancestors in Haran or Ur. This is a com- 
mon feeling with those who have left the home of 
their fathers. Joseph desired that his father and 
that he himself should be buried in the land given 
them by God. Canaan was to Abraham and all 
his descendants the land of their inheritance, even 
when they owned only a burying-lot. But beyond 
the earthly Canaan there is every reason for the 
assertion of the author of the Epistle to the He- 
brews that they looked for a City whose builder 
and maker is God (11:10). God appeared re- 
peatedly to Abraham, and the only legitimate in- 
ference was that he had a habitation where he es- 
pecially lived or manifested himself. To that 
home or city Abraham looked forward as a place 
where Enoch and the true Sons of God had gone. 
These, then, are the graces which have made 
Abraham known and respected among all nations, 
Jew and Gentile. He was no warrior, no builder 
of cities, no philosopher or teacher, simply a 
plain man dwelling in tents. He was called of 
God, and became a friend of God. And so he has 
left an example of faith and obedience towards 
God and of kindness and unselfishness towards 
men which have been an encouragement and help 
in all ages. 



CHAPTER XI 

JACOB ON THE POSITION OF PRAYER 
IN THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE 

Before proceeding with the life of Jacob, there 
are one or two general observations which ought 
to be made. (1) One is that these are not the 
biographies that would have attracted ordinary 
historians and poets. They would have written 
about Nimrod, the mighty hunter, the builder of 
Babylon, or Cheder-Laomer, king of Elam, or 
Tidal, king of nations (Gen. 14:11). But here 
is Abraham not even a king, only the chief of a 
tribe, who fought only one battle. And why was 
he selected .f^ He was the called of God and re- 
sponded by a willing faith and obedience. It was 
a life that took on the spiritual and eternal, a life 
that was important only as it took hold on God 
and yet a life that has helped revolutionize the 
world and give us new conceptions of a greatness 
greater than that of sword or world-wide fame. 
(2) We need more than one example of those who 
have walked by faith. Abraham is such a bril- 
liant example of faith and obedience, and was so 
honorable in his dealings with men that he seems 
of better clay than ordinary mortals. That we 
be not discouraged we need another type like 
Jacob, the Supplanter. 

As Abraham's character — his faith and obedi- 
ence — illustrate a part of religious experience in 

135 



136 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the individual, so another and very important 
part is illustrated by Jacob, and that is prayer. 
Not that Abraham and the other patriarchs were 
not men of prayer, but it stands out more promi- 
nently in the history of Jacob's life. The record 
about Isaac is comparatively brief. He was in 
a measure the completion of his father's life. 
Like him, he was a man of peace, following the 
same industries and having many of the same ex- 
periences. One incident with regard to the wife 
of Isaac shows a similar stage of civilization in 
Egypt and among the Philistines a generation 
apart (Gen. 12: 11, 20: 2 and 26: 7). 

In the most important incident in the lives of 
father and son, they stood together. The father 
took the son to offer him as a sacrifice, but that 
son was no mere child, but a young man of 
twenty or twenty-five. (This is the opinion of 
Josephus.) At that age he would have had all 
the hopes and aspirations of an heir of his fath- 
er's wealth, and of the divine promises. If the 
obedience of Abraham, ready to slay his son, illus- 
trates the love of God the Father, who did not 
withhold his only Son, surely the acquiescence of 
Isaac in the stern command, shadows forth the 
submission of Christ, in laying down his life of 
his own will, for the salvation of a lost world. 

The relation between Abraham and Jacob is 
best seen by the phraseology, which is used after 
this in speaking of the history of God's chosen 
people. They are sometimes called children of 



JACOB AND PRAYER 137 

Abraham. Especially is this applied to his spir- 
itual children, inasmuch as they exhibited his 
faith. At other times they are called children of 
Israel. Isaac is not mentioned except when the 
three patriarchs are spoken of together. The 
truth taught seems to be this, that in the prayer 
of the one and in the faith and obedience of the 
other, we have the fundamental and indissoluble 
parts of all religious experience. 

Paul was a man of great faith and unswerving 
obedience or loyalty to the Lord Jesus; yet of 
the transition period of his life it is said, "Be- 
hold he prayeth." Prayer does not belong to the 
natural man, however much he may practise its 
forms. Prayer was not natural to Jacob, though 
by natural descent a son of Abraham. His dispo- 
sition was to trust in himself, and seek to carry 
out his plans by circumventing or supplanting 
others. How he was cured of this tendency, and 
his character as well as his name changed from 
Jacob to Israel is unfolded in the history. 

The difference between Jacob and his twin 
brother Esau was marked from their birth. Twins 
often resemble one another, but here the diver- 
gence was manifest not only physically, but in 
their dispositions. Esau did not care for the 
quiet pastoral life of caring for flocks, but pre- 
ferred roving about as a hunter. Jacob, whose 
homelike tastes, pleased his mother, had also an 
over-reaching disposition. This was manifest in 
the bargain, which he made with his brother for 



138 THE BEGIXXIXG OF THINGS 

his birthright. There is this redeeming feature 
on the part of Jacob, in this transaction. He saw 
and in a measure appreciated the excellence of 
the promise made to Abraham and repeated to 
Isaac. And we need to bear in mind that Abra- 
ham lived until his grandsons, Esau and Jacob, 
were fifteen years old. And the same disposition, 
for which he was commended by Jehovah, "that 
he will command his children and his household 
after him" (Gen 18:19), doubtless characterized 
him, in impressing the lessons of his life upon 
those who were to be the inheritors of the prom- 
ises made to him. Esau with all this knowledge 
and with the position of first-born, despised his 
birthright. For the sake of satis fyincr his hun- 
ger, he forfeited all for which his grandfather had 
left his native land, and for which he had waited 
for years. If Esau thus lived for the present, 
and was careless of and despised future good, we 
certainly cannot justify Jacob, who was mean 
enough to take such an advantage, and bargain 
away his dish of lentils, wliich he ought to have 
given, for what he knew would be a valuable pos- 
session. 

But if in this case, Jacob's conduct was that of 
a supplanter, sharp and over-reaching for his 
own benefit, the next transaction in which he ap- 
pears, was still worse. It was a clear case of 
deception and unblushing falsehood — suggested, 
it is true, by his mother, but readily fallen in with 
and adopted by the son. Isaac was old and blind 



JACOB AND PRAYER 139 

and confined to his bed, and thought he would 
soon die — though he actually lived forty-three or 
sixty-three* years after this, dying at the age of 
one hundred and eighty. It is probable that he 
recovered in a great measure from his sickness, 
and was able to be about again. With his strong 
ideas of the right of the first-born, Isaac called 
Esau, that he might give him his fatherly bless- 
ing before he died. Rebekah hears the conversa- 
tion, and perhaps excusing herself on account of 
the character of Esau, and his marriage with the 
daughters of the land, and remembering also the 
divine word that the elder should serve the 
younger (25:23), called her son Jacob, to co- 
operate with her in securing the blessing for him- 
self. Jacob was now fifty-seven or seventy-seven, 
according as we reckon the number of years spent 
in Mesopotamia), and so, of course, no mere 
child. The mother's appeal was to his self-inter- 
est. And his grasping, covetous nature acqui- 
esced in the plan of deception, which he carried 

* The usual calculation is that Isaac was now 137. Joseph 
having been introduced to Pharoah in his thirtieth year (ch. 
41: 40) and having been 39 (ch. 45: 6) when his father aged 
133 (ch. 47: 9) came into Egypt, must have been born before 
Jacob was 91; consequently as his birth occurred in the 14th 
year of Jacob's sojourn in Mesopotamia (cf . ch. 30 : 25 with 
29: 18, 21, 22) Jacob's flight must have taken place when he 
was 77. But Jacob was born in Isaac's 60th year (25 : 26) hence 
Isaac was now 137. There are however, difficulties connected 
with this reckoning. It takes for granted that Jacob was in 
Padan Aram only 20 years, whereas Kennicott thinks it 40, 
14 for his wives, 20 of after service and 6 for wages. Accord- 
ing to the latter Isaac at this time was 117 (Pulpit Commen- 
tary in loco). 



140 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

out not only by putting on Esau's garments and 
covering his hands and the smooth of his neck 
with goat-skins, but boldly silenced his father's 
doubts by one falsehood after another. 

When the deception was discovered, as neces- 
sarily it would be as soon as Esau returned, the 
latter determines to retaliate and kill his brother 
as soon as the death of his father should take 
place. The mother, aware of his intention, sends 
Jacob away to Padan Aram to her brother. 

BETHEL, CH. 28 

And here comes in that wondrous grace on the 
part of God, which gives this refugee from re- 
venge, the hope that the blessing of Abraham 
rested upon him, more surely than the words of 
Isaac. Very indefinite and intangible was the 
birthright, unless he had the assurance that 
Abraham's God was his God. He had been try- 
ing by subterfuge and deception to obtain the 
blessing. The ^^sion as he slept on the stone at 
Bethel, was that that was not the way, but to 
seek it from God himself. Jacob's way was Hke 
Paul's going about to establish his own righteous- 
ness, but the vision of the one at midnight and 
the other at mid-day, was that Jehovah and the 
angelic host is our only defence. How puny and 
useless the efforts of man by the side of the open 
heavens. This is the thought that man needs to 
realize, before he takes Jehovah to be his God. 
It was a personal revelation to Jacob and Paul. 



JACOB AND PRAYER 141 

And in one sense it is a personal revelation to 
every man before he gets into the light. It is 
God finding us, instead of our getting the bless- 
ing by our own struggle.* And that opens 
heaven and makes our heart a temple, where the 
angels ascend and descend. This vision of 
heaven brought near, found its highest realization 
in Christ Jesus, taking our nature and making a 
complete and perfect ladder by which heaven 
lifts earth into light and life. It is salvation for 
sinful man. 

As to Jacob himself he had the blessing of 
Abraham confirmed and the promise added of per- 
sonal care in all places where he should go ; and 
that he should be brought again to the land prom- 
ised to him and to his seed. One thought would 
be that after this, Jacob would be a new man, that 
the light of that vision and the encouragement of 
those promises, would have lifted him out of his 
former self. But in a measure he is Jacob still. 
He had to deal with one disposed to take all pos- 
sible advantage in every transaction. Laban de- 
ceived him about his wife, and changed his wages 
ten times. Jacob yielded to the deception about 
Leah, as if sent by the Lord as a reminder of his 
own fault. It looks also as though he secured 
an extra share of cattle by one of his old subter- 

* There is the waiting for the action of our own will, as in 
the case of the Prodigal Son, when he came to himself — and 
there is the divine calling and stimulus to right action. They 
are both true and it is not necessary here to attempt the recon- 
ciliation. 



142 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

fuges. But then again he went even further than 
strict justice in bearing the loss of that which 
was stolen or torn by beasts (31:39). Further 
than this there was a constant recognition of 
God's hand, which was so manifest that Laban 
said, "I have learned by experience that the Lord 
hath blessed me, for thy sake" (30:27). We 
know that Jacob made a vow to give a tenth to 
God, of all that God should give him" (28:22). 
There is no record of the way in which the vow 
was carried out. But as it became a law among 
his descendants, we suppose that he adhered to 
it. And there is nothing like a conscientious ad- 
herence to the principle of giving a proportion 
to the Lord, that takes the selfishness so com- 
pletely out of a man. 

An equally potent factor in subduing selfishness 
is generosity. And Jacob was ready now to do 
a generous act, as he had been before to do a 
mean one. It is true that he proposed by the 
present which he prepared for his brother to ap- 
pease his anger (32:20). But when this had 
been done in answer to prayer, he still urges the 
acceptance of the present. And it was no insig- 
nificant gift that he offered. "Two hundred she 
goats and twenty he goats, thirty milch camels 
with their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty 
she asses and ten foals" (32: 14 and 15). It was 
astonishing that he who went out with only his 
staff, twenty or even forty years before, could 
give so freely and have anything left. But the 



JACOB AND PRAYER 143 

Lord had evidently been with him, and this pres- 
ent said in speech stronger than words, I was a 
supplanter, I wrongly obtained the birthright. I 
sinned in deceiving my father. But here is the 
best reparation I can make. I obtained nothing 
by my deception. But the Lord has blessed me. 
Accept this and let us be brothers. 

PENUEL, 32 

But whatever gifts might do, Jacob had learned 
not to depend on them, or upon any efforts of his 
own. In accordance with the command of God, 
he had gathered his family together and started 
on his return journey. The first difficulty was in 
getting away from Laban, his father-in-law. La- 
ban seemed to regard the large family and numer- 
ous herds as in a measure belonging to him as 
the chief of the tribe, and so to avoid strife or 
even angry words, Jacob stole away. Laban fol- 
lowed and overtook him after a seven days' pur- 
suit, in Mount Gilead (31:23). Here God ap- 
peared to Laban, warning him not to enter upon 
any discussion. After they had agreed that 
neither should pass that boundary line with the 
intention of injuring one another, Jacob went on 
his way and was still further encouraged by a 
vision of two hosts of angels (32: 2) as if one 
would keep from dangers in the rear and the other 
from those in advance. And yet when the messen- 
gers whom he had sent forward to learn the sit- 
uation, returned with the word that Esau was 



144 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

coming to meet him with four hundred men, he 
was greatly afraid and distressed: 32:7.) While 
Jacob had been following the arts of peace, his 
brother had become a military chieftain — a shiekh 
of the desert, who would consider this roving un- 
protected band, a lawful and easy prey for one of 
their raids. And then there came the remembrance 
of that vow of vengeance for his deceit. Here was 
an easy chance to execute it. Might would soon 
show to whom belonged the birthright. If Jacob 
had tried to flee where could he go? He had just 
fled from Mesopotamia and was under obligation 
not to return. If he should try, he could not 
escape from his brother. Will Esau kill him as 
he had threatened to do? And with four hundred 
men he had the power. Certainly his only hope 
was in God. And so in deep humility and with 
absolute dependence on God, he prays " I am not 
worthy, of the least of all the mercies and of all 
the truth, which Thou showed unto Thy servant." 
(32:10). God had been true and merciful to him 
and he had not been true to God. He had trusted 
to his own devices and not to the promise. And 
the trouble which threatened was purely the re- 
sult of his own deceit. If God helped, it would 
be by treating him not as he deserved. And upon 
the mercy of God he dared to trust, because of 
the promises, and the command of God to return. 
The promise made to Abraham and renewed to 
Isaac, had also been made his when God appeared 
to him at Bethel. And the command had come 



JACOB AND PRAYER 145 

to him, to "return unto thy country and to thy 
kindred and I will deal well with thee." (32: cf 
31: 13). He was therefore in the path of duty. 
Thus called of God to return, he could plead the 
promises and say, how are these to be fulfilled, if 
Esau should come and smite me and the mother 
with the children. Knowing the difficulties and 
knowing also how God had removed these difficul- 
ties in the case of others, he prays "O God of my 
father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, 
deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my 
brother." The intensity of this desire is repre- 
sented to us more vividly, by the wrestling of a 
man with Jacob until the breaking of the day 
(v. 24). As this man is afterwards spoken of as 
God (v. 30) it seems not unreasonable to think 
of him as our Divine Intercessor, who can easily 
overcome us by a touch and yet graciously con- 
descends to our infirmities, hears our prayer and 
allows us to prevail, and calls us princes, when 
it is by his grace and power that we are able to 
overcome. Over against the condescending grace 
at Bethel, which revealed the open way to Heaven, 
we get at Penuel a glimpse of the finished High 
Priestly work of our Intercessor, making the 
unworthy Jacobs, princes of God in renouncing 
worldly aid and in relying on divine power. 

The result of this plea, was the change in Esau 
from the dreaded enemy to a reconciled brother. 
Some may think little of such an answer to prayer. 
There was no miracle such as men may expect who 



146 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

watch for signs. It was simply the victory over 
a heart turned from its purpose and answering to 
the quiet demand of love, instead of vengeance, 
crushing with the sword and sending cries and 
desolation through the camp of the helpless. And 
this new name given to the Conqueror has little of 
the ring, which men love, who are brevetted on 
the battle field. And yet here is a man who has 
learned the great lesson of all true conquest, that 
God is greater than man and that he who wins 
there, must bow the knee in prayer. Jacob was 
first won to God, before he could win Esau to him- 
self. To some Jacob may seem as little trans- 
formed at Penuel as at Bethel. He was Jacob 
still down to the end of his days. He had not a lit- 
tle of human weakness left in him, when in sadness 
he said all these things are against me: (42: 36). 
But our weak human nature was to learn through 
him the short-sightedness of men in comparison 
with the far-reaching goodness of the plans of 
God. But Jacob showed the power of grace, 
in selfishness changed to justice and magnanimity, 
in self-dependence changed to trust in God, in the 
victory of love over hate. And then as Moses and 
Samuel showed what their mothers were, so 
Joseph showed what his father was. And then 
Joseph exalted knew the worth of that father 
who though despised as a shepherd, he could pre- 
sent to Pharaoh as a man of God whose blessing 
could enrich a king. In communion with God he 
spoke as a prophet. And in his death no one in 
all the land of Egypt was more honored. 



CHAPTER XII 

JOSEPH, OR THE EXALTATION AND 

TRIUMPH OF RELIGION IN THE 

INDIVIDUAL LIFE 

It is but natural as we have the fundamental 
expression of religious life in faith, and prayer 
that we should also have the result or growth in 
the exaltation of the individual and in his influence 
over others. We have seen something of this ef- 
fect in the Patriarchs whose lives we have already 
considered; as in the manifest change and uplift- 
ing of character in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
The latter especially exhibits a marked change 
from a selfish person, disposed to rely on human 
expedients to a man of prayer who could plead 
only the mercy of God. Not only was Jacob's 
life corrected and purified, but he was the father 
and instructor of Joseph who is one of the most 
perfect characters in all history. It is in him that 
we especially see the growth and culmination of 
religious ideas as started in the call of Abraham 
and illustrated in this first chapter of Old Tes- 
tament worthies. If we had no clearer light, this 
record would show what religion is and ought to 
be, in the faith, obedience and uplift of those who 
follow its teachings. 

The history of Joseph falls naturally into three 
periods. 1. That of his home life for seventeen 
years. S. His life of humiliation as a slave and 

147 



148 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

prisoner until he was thirty. 3. His exaltation 
as ruler of Egypt — a period extending to his 
death at a hundred and ten. 

I. Joseph's home life 

Joseph seems to have been gifted with a nature 
peculiarly lovable and receptive to the truth. This 
was perhaps one reason why he was a favorite of 
the father, as well as the fact that he was the son 
of the beloved wife. It was evidently the inten- 
tion of Jacob to assign him the position of first- 
born. This was indicated by giving him the coat 
of many colors or as it is usually translated of 
a long tunic with sleeves (37: 3 Rev. ver. margin.) 
In China this would be the garment of the scholar 
or officer instead of that worn by the coolie or 
workman. This would be sufficient to arouse the 
enmity of his brethren. They would say, he is 
placed before us, who are older than he. In ad- 
dition to this jealousy Joseph was cognizant of the 
e^-il deeds of his brethren and reported them to 
his father. What these deeds were is not re- 
corded. Caravans passed in those days to Egypt; 
and Driver's supposition that there was some dis- 
honesty in the sale of flocks is not improbable. 
In addition to these causes of enmity Joseph re- 
peated the dreams, which seem to have been given 
him as a divine intimation of his future advance- 
ment. If he had been older perhaps prudence 
would have led him to have kept those dreams to 
himself. However if he made anv mistake about 



JOSEPH 149 

this, it was purposely allowed as part of the chain 
in the providential leading, which was to bring 
about the desired result. Its first effect was to 
provoke the brothers to hinder an outcome which 
seemed improbable and yet one that they could 
not face out of their minds. It was hard for ten 
men to agree on the best method of ridding them- 
selves of the dreamer. Murder was the surest. But 
from that some recoiled. Their point was 
gained as they supposed by selling him to a party 
of Ishmaelites who were on their way to Egypt. 
Now he would be out of their way ; and they could 
say an evil beast had devoured him. This false 
report would deceive their father, especially as 
they brought back his coat covered with blood. 
One of the things which afterwards troubled their 
memories, was that they saw the anguish of his 
soul and would not hear (42: 21). To Joseph it 
must have seemed a sad ending to his life's hopes, 
where he, a lad of seventeen, was sold as a slave 
and taken away into an unknown land to be again 
sold to some hard bondage. 

The lesson of this part of Joseph's life, is the 
value of religious instruction in the family. That 
Abraham practised it we see from the influence 
such instruction had over the servant sent to find 
a wife for Isaac, and God himself said, I know that 
he will command his children and household after 
him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah. 
(18: 19). That Jacob sought to do his part faith- 
fully in this matter is seen in Joseph, who, at the 



150 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

age of seventeen, was thrown into entirely differ- 
ent surroundings. We shall see how he met these 
surroundings as we go on. Now we wish to look 
at the instruction which helped to keep him faith- 
ful in the hour of trial. Certainly one thing 
which had a strong hold upon him, was the pres- 
ence of God. He was no local God, for he was 
present in Egypt as well as at his father's altars. 
He had been with his father at Bethel and Penuel 
and in Mesopotamia as well as in Canaan. He 
was the God who had instituted sacrifice way back 
when Adam and Eve fled from Paradise. He 
knew of the secredness of the marriage tie and 
how God regarded any deviation from that law 
as wicked and deserving of punishment. Whether 
this knowledge came from its first institution or 
from later teachings respecting it, we cannot say. 
And if the human relationships were thus made 
clear, the divine side in creation — the power and 
goodness as given in the first chapters of Genesis 
may have been handed down by tradition. Tradi- 
tion would apparently be the source. And yet we 
know that the code of Hammurabi was written in 
the time of Abraham. And how much earlier writ- 
ing was employed we cannot say. And then 
through those long years of waiting and prepara- 
tion, the Patriarchs may have thought profoundly 
on what seems to us the few truths of revelation. 
Take this one thought of God's being and pres- 
ence, how it entered into the fibre of Joseph's 
thinking and acting. 



JOSEPH 151 

II. Joseph's humiliation 

There are three ways in which this thought of 
God's presence showed itself in the next period 
of his life. 1. There was a cheerful acceptance 
of the position in which he was placed. However 
hard to be a slave and be torn away from his 
father's home as shown in the anguish of his soul, 
yet he did not sit down and mope or meditate ven- 
geance. Doubtless he came to the conclusion that 
the hand of God was in the hard method his 
brethren took of ridding themselves of him, and 
so there was a ready attempt to make himself use- 
ful and seek the good of the master to whom he 
was sold. This disposition was seen by his first 
master, who gave him the position of major-domo 
or superintendent of his affairs. And then again, 
when by false accusation, he was thrown into 
prison, he wasted no time in self -justification or 
complaint against others, even though his feet 
were hurt with fetters (Ps. 105:18). So mani- 
festly was the Lord with him that the keeper of 
the prison entrusted the other prisoners to his 
over sight. This cheerfulness and readiness to 
serve and adapt one's self to surroundings may not 
seem a great grace, but it is in the line of obedi- 
ence to God's will. 

2. More positive was his mastery over tempta- 
tion. He did not stop to consider the pleasure with 
which Satan is wont to bait his hook in such cases, 
nor the circumstances favorable to concealment. 
It was sin against God, and he ran from it as 



152 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

quickly as possible. Where so many are slain, 
it was a victory, the example of which has helped 
others in the same fight through the ages. 

3. His trust in God helped him in his treat- 
ment of his brethren and gave him the victory 
over every thought of resentment. At first the 
position which he took may have seemed harsh. 
He knew not what kind of men his brethren were 
— whether unfeeling and ready for some wicked 
deed, as when he left them. His first thought seems 
to have been to get possession of his younger 
brother. But as he saw the tender solicitude of 
Judah for his father and how he had become re- 
sponsible for Benjamin's safe return, he no longer 
restrained himself, but seeing the providential in- 
tent that his father and all his brethren and their 
families should be saved alive, sends chariots and 
food for them all to come to Egypt. Not only 
did he thus manifest kindness in the beginning 
and receive them graciously; but when, after his 
father's death, they began to think he would re- 
quite the evil which they had done unto him. Nobly 
and generously did he reply, that while they meant 
it for evil, God meant it for good, and assured 
them, I will nourish you and your little ones. And 
he comforted them and spake kindly unto them 
(50:16-21). 

The first thought suggested by this period of 
Joseph's life, is the wonderful providence of God. 
We hardly wonder at the view which Jacob took 
of the situation, before it was fully developed. 



JOSEPH 153 

All these things are against me, was his com- 
plaint. How little did the selling Joseph as a 
slave and the false accusation of his master's wife 
look like advancement. How the forgetfulness of 
the chief butler seemed to put it off still fur- 
ther. And yet it was all working to the result 
prognosticated to the boy in his dreams. The 
lessons suggested by such providential leading are 
those suggested by Joseph's actions, first to ac- 
cept cheerfully what seems hard and difficult. 
And yet this is not an easy task, nor one quickly 
learned. Joseph began the task in anguish of soul 
and ended it by becoming trusted master in every 
position in which he was placed. Second, we are 
to stand fearlessly and positively by the right. 
The consciousness of rectitude carries with it not 
only the smile of one's best self, but the blessing 
of Jehovah. 

JOSEPH A TYPE OF THE MESSIAH 

Instead of taking up the next period of Joseph's 
life, or that of his exaltation, it seems best to 
take up the thought of his being a type of the 
Messiah, which necessarily brings in also some 
things connected with his humiliation. This posi- 
tion of a Messianic type was a new step in the de- 
velopment of revelation. The first step was the 
promise to our first parents of victory over the 
serpent, through the seed of the woman. This was 
confirmed to Abraham and a new idea added by 
making his seed a source of blessing to all the 



154 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

families of the earth. In addition to the promise 
was the institution of sacrifice, showing a way of 
reconciliation through substitution. And now a 
third thought is added that the promised deliverer 
had his forerunner in such a person as Joseph. It 
is not necessary to hold that Joseph himself or 
his contemporaries should have understood this; 
but that we, looking back, see how certain features 
in some of the worthies of the Old Testament fore- 
shadowed the person and work of Christ. Moses 
as the introducer of one Dispensation, speaks of 
another Prophet like himself whom God would 
raise up to do a similar work, but most of these 
forerunners went on doing their own work, uncon- 
scious of its significance. We are specially inter- 
ested in seeing how much of truth was foreshad- 
owed in their conduct. Thus in Joseph there is, 
first, the exaltation growing out of his humilia- 
tion. The road to the prime ministry was through 
slavery. Christ was exalted both because of his 
work and his character. He stands alone in ex- 
alting us through his death — ^but in a measure it 
could be said of Joseph as of Christ, "thou hast 
loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore 
hath God exalted thee" (Ps. 45: 7). There is also 
the striking external fact that one was sold and 
the other betrayed for the same price — thirty 
pieces of silver. 

Second, There was the saving much people alive. 
In the one case it was the family of Jacob — the 
chosen seed. On the other it was a great multi- 



JOSEPH 155 

tude whom no man can number. In the one case 
it was from starvation. In the other an eternal 
salvation from sin and its curse here and here- 
after. 

Third, The method of saving by forgiveness 
was one of the striking points in which Joseph was 
a type of Christ. Joseph was tempted to retaliate, 
and perhaps thought he ought to, when he accused 
them of being spies. And his brethren expected 
nothing else after the death of their father. But 
he had been learning God's purpose in bringing 
him into Egypt to save, and that purpose could 
only be carried out by forgiveness. The victory of 
the world over its enemies is by force, by revenge 
and hate. Christ's victory is by love — by mercy 
and forgiveness. Here was a foreshadowing of 
the divine way, which must have made its impres- 
sion on those who were taught so much by type 
and symbol. It is true that we are not to read 
too much of gospel teaching into the Old Testa- 
ment record, neither on the other hand are we to 
minimize the truth designed to help the faith that 
looked to the future. Sacrifice and Jacob's vision, 
made clear that the way to heaven was open. It 
was open to such a man as Jacob. And it was 
open to Jacob's sons, who evidently were not wor- 
thy, but who still were saved, forgiven and treated 
kindly, by the very person they had injured. 

Fourth, Still another thought was that the per- 
fection of this salvation was in the future. Joseph 
"took an oath of the children of Israel saying. 



156 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up 
my bones from hence" (50: 25). He was confident 
that the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
would be fulfilled, and that Canaan should be 
theirs. While there was this earthly hope and 
the type was complete in his belief in the promise, 
the question may arise whether he was equally cer- 
tain about the heavenly Canaan. Joseph lived for 
the most of his life, where they sought to realize 
immortality by keeping the body from corruption. 
This shows the longing of the human mind to 
escape death. The Egyptians carried this to an 
extreme when they made mummies of cats and 
bulls. But beyond the care of the mortal, there is 
the innate longing for continued existence which is 
a part of our nature. When God made man in his 
own image, a part of that image was to be im- 
mortal, just as God himself is. And though man 
fell, yet the immortal was not annihilated, nor the 
hope of it banished through sin and corruption. 
As reason and conscience existed though de- 
throned, so with the hope of immortality, though 
death was pronounced. This hope was strength- 
ened before the Flood by the translation of Enoch. 
When God called Abraham, there was not only 
a promise about the possession of Canaan, but a 
statement of his relation to God, that in him per- 
sonally, rather than in his gifts, would be "his 
exceeding great reward" (15:1). In the unseen 
and spiritual he was to look for his support and 
joy, more than in the earthly. To Jacob was 



JOSEPH 157 

given the vision of the open heavens and the way 
of access there. He felt that alone there in Bethel 
he was near God's home and close by the gateway 
to Heaven, up which the angels invited him to as- 
cend. Very properly therefore does the writer of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews describe the Patri- 
archs as seeking a heavenly country, and that God 
had prepared for them as well as us a City (Heb. 
11: 13-16). Joseph we must consider as a sharer 
in these hopes of immortality. God was to him a 
Saviour, causing good to come out of evil, ruling 
Egypt as well as Canaan as its sovereign, having 
his home in Heaven. The earthly promise was 
only a part — a foretaste of those open gates which 
his father saw, when the angels ascended and de- 
scended to help the human towards the divine. 

UNITY OF REVELATION 

1. After having passed in review the first chap- 
ter of divine revelation, or the beginnings of grace 
as shown to the individual, the first thought that 
impresses us is the unity of the divine plan and 
purpose in Revelation. It is as the Apostle says, 
"the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham" 
(Gal. 3:6). It was not only that Christ should 
come — but that salvation is for sinners like Jacob 
— through faith like Abraham — breathed out in 
prayer, as in Jacob changed to Israel. And then 
in Joseph we have the type of the forgiving, 
exalted Saviour. Surely here is not a little of the 
fundamentals of the gospel foreshadowed for the 



158 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

guidance of believers before Christ came in the 
flesh. 

REVELATION FROM GOD 

2. The unity of Revelation emphasizes the fact 
that its beginnings as well as its fulness are from 
God. The fruit is the outcome of the blossom 
which began when Abraham was called out of Ur 
of the Chaldees. That there should have been so 
much of truth revealed then, when all the world 
was going astray, shows clearly that its source 
was not Babylonian or of any other human origin, 
but from God. 

SUFFERING AND EXALTATION 

3. It is a little singular how the two ideas of 
a suifering and an exalted Saviour — which seemed 
to the Jews so irreconcilable — were kept side by 
side all through the Old Testament. The two 
great sources for faith and thought to dwell upon 
were type and promise — type indicated that the 
way of access to God was by blood, and on the 
other hand was the promise of victory and bless- 
ing through the seed of Abraham. In Joseph as 
a type of Christ two ideas were combined — hu- 
miliation and exaltation, slavery and kingly 
power. As the humiliation was on earth so would 
the exaltation be, Egypt governed by the word of 
Joseph, or the world accepting the laws and prin- 
ciple of the kingdom of Heaven. The humiliation 
was of a different character in David, the great 
national type of the Messiah. There was more of 



JOSEPH 159 

suffering because of sin, and patient waiting for 
the kingdom, but yet it was triumph and subjuga- 
tion of enemies, and the exaltation prolonged in 
Solomon's peaceful and prosperous reign. In this 
anticipated glory of the Son of David, suffering 
and humiliation were forgotten, and so they re- 
jected the Christ when he actually came in the 
flesh. May the reverse not be true of us that we 
forget his exultation and second coming; and so 
neglect to co-work with him in establishing the 
spiritual, which is ever true glory of his reign 
upon the earth. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE FAMILY— (1) MARRIAGE 

The first step in the beginnings of things in 
grace is the relation of the individual soul to God. 
The next step is the relation of the family to God. 
With reference to the family we begin with mar- 
riage. For upon the right understanding of that 
relation, depends very largely the happiness and 
right influence of the home. 

1. The origin of marriage is given in the sec- 
ond chapter of Genesis. God made an help suited 
for man, as it was plain from want of congenial 
companionship that it was not good for him to 
be alone. The beasts had been brought before 
Adam and he had named them. If he had de- 
scended from them, he might have found the re- 
move from them not too great, to prevent compan- 
ionship. But the father of our race was not a brute, 
nor the son of a brute, but made by his Creator 
to rule over them. The formation of woman from 
man, and in a single pair, was significant of the 
law of marriage. Animals seem to have been cre- 
ated in groups or swarms — but here is one man 
and one woman, indicating a monogamous instead 
of a polygamous union. And besides this, the in- 
timacy of the union was signified. It was bone of 
his bone and flesh of his flesh. So that the rule 
starts from the very beginning. "Therefore, shall 
a man leave his father and his mother and shall 

160 



THE FAMILY 161 

cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh" 
(v. 24). A union so perfect was not to be inter- 
fered with, either by taking other wives, or by di- 
vorce, except when there is a fundamental violation 
of the contract by either of the parties. To this 
original law, our Saviour brought back the insti- 
tution, saying to the plea of the Jews that Moses 
had allowed divorce for other reasons, "In the be- 
ginning it was not so" (Matt. 19: 8). This primal 
law of Paradise was enforced by various incidents 
in the course of the narrative. 

The first temptation to vary from the marriage 
contract was presented to Abraham in the fact 
that the promise seemed likely to fail through 
want of offspring. After what seemed a very 
long waiting, Sarah persuaded her husband to 
take her maid as his concubine. But the promised 
seed was not to be through Hagar, but by the law- 
ful wife. It is true there is nothing said about 
the unlawfulness of the secondary marriage; but 
the natural results in a disturbed household were 
plainly manifest. The concubine, as the mother 
as she supposed, of the promised heir, was led to 
despise her mistress and this led to her banishment 
from home, even before the birth of Ishmael. And 
then when Isaac was weaned, Sarah, jealous of 
what was perhaps boyish raillery on the part of his 
half-brother, who was fourteen years the senior, 
insisted upon the bondwoman and her son being 
cast out. It was not easy for Abraham to con- 
sent to this, for his heart yearned towards his 



162 THE BEGINXIXG OF THINGS 

eldest son, but directed by God, he followed his 
wife's advice. Ishmael, who doubtless, had been 
for a time recognized as son and heir of his 
father's position and wealth, was remanded back 
to his mother's servile position. If this was not 
a rebuke to the departure from the law of mat- 
rimony, it certainly was honor put on the original 
marriage as the one to be recognized in the line 
of promise. 

1. The trouble and difficulty in a polygamous 
marriage is again brought to life in the case of 
Jacob. The one whom he chose and who would have 
been his only wife, was Rachel. But Laban, who 
cared more for the customs of the country than his 
promise gave him Leah instead of Rachel — so 
eventually he had four wives instead of one. Rachel 
the loved one, envied Leah because the children 
were hers, and Leah envied Rachel the affection 
of her husband. Rachel, however, continued to 
hold the primary place in Jacob's affection, and 
her children were the honored and also the en\ded 
ones in the household. If the sons of Jacob had 
all been the sons of one mother, it is hardly to be 
supposed that the plot against Joseph would have 
assumed such dark proportions, as to plan against 
his life, and then sell him as a slave. 

2. While there was this clear intimation that 
marriage should be confined to one man and one 
woman, there was no positive prohibition against 
polygamy. With reference however, to the sanc- 
tity of marriage, which polygamy does so much to 



THE FAMILY 163 

weaken, the teaching was very explicit. On two 
different occasions, once in Egypt and once in 
Canaan, was this lesson taught Abraham (chs. 
12 and 20). Abraham was fearful that in 
his wanderings among powerful princes, he would 
be taken and killed for the sake of his wife; so 
he persuaded her to say that she was his sister. 
Doubtless there was ground for this fear, and 
Sarah seems to have been actually taken to the 
harems of Pharaoh and Abimelech. How Abraham 
expected to recover his wife, we do not know, but 
it became an occasion of divine rebuke in both in- 
stances. The design of rebuke was to teach in 
the most emphatic way possible, the sanctity of 
the marriage relation. The tie was indissoluble, 
admitting of no trifling or laying aside. It was 
better even to run the risk of losing life itself, 
than to violate this union. There was a rebuke 
of Abraham's prevarication and want of trust in 
God's providence, Abimelech also was threatened 
with death, if he did not restore the woman whom 
he had unwittingly taken, and the reason given 
was that she was a man's wife. (20:3). It is 
a little singular that Isaac should have committed 
over again the mistake of his father, and in the 
same place, three-quarters of a century later 
(26:7). He was rebuked by Abimelech, who 
seemed to remember better than Isaac, the warn- 
ing given to his father; and did not proceed as 
far in attempting to take her away from her hus- 
band. This threefold repetition shows the prone- 



164 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

ness of men to disregard the sanctity of this rela- 
tion, and how positively it was the purpose of 
God to enforce the rule on this subject and guard 
it by the strongest penalties. We see the effect 
of this teaching in the case of Joseph. The temp- 
tation came in a way so easy to be concealed, that 
it was only a strong sense of the greatness of the 
sin that made him proof against it. He had been 
taught by the way God had dealt with his ances- 
tors, that he should beware of incurring his dis- 
pleasure. He would trust in God's providence to 
vindicate the right, and he did not trust in vain. 

Another lesson about the sanctity of marriage 
is inculcated in this connection with reference to 
continence between unmarried persons, as in the 
case of Dinah (ch 34). The sin was not in its 
worst form, as marriage was proposed, but the 
insult and disgrace to their sister, her two brothers 
were determined should be revenged. The man- 
ner of showing this resentment cannot be justified, 
but the deed done was wrong. Perhaps the ven- 
geance was allowed, to show in the midst of those 
nations the necessity for moral purity. And the 
restraint, which kept them from pursuing the sons 
of Jacob, doubtless had the approval of conscience, 
that though conducted with too great violence, 
it was in a measure justified because of sin against 
virtue. And for this reason it was recorded that 
sin in this direction is to be carefully guarded for 
the sake of the purity and peace of society. For 
men are prone to excuse and allow indulgence in 



THE FAMILY 165 

themselves, which if committed against those re- 
lated to them, they punish with the utmost 
severity. 

3. Another point upon which light is thrown 
is the mode of entering upon this relation. Mar- 
riage in the Lord, or marriage on the ground of 
religious rather than worldly considerations, is 
more than once set forth. The first plain viola- 
tion of such religious considerations was before 
the Flood, when the sons of God* or the worship- 
pers of Jehovah took them wives of all which they 
chose. Not only does this indicate a tendency to 
polygamy, but the choice was not based on reli- 
gious grounds, but on mere fancy, or as the record 
says, because they were fair. The giving up of 
a religious basis as the ground of choice, resulted 
in the bad education of their offspring, who be- 
came men of renown — or as Calvin says "the first 
nobility of the world were honorable robbers, who 
boasted of their wickedness." And because of this 

* Driver holds that '* the Sons of God" were semi-divine, 
supra mundane beings. "It is not apparent," he says, "why the 
intermarriage of two races each descended from a common 
ancester should have resulted in a race characterized by gigan- 
tic stature or abnormal wickedness." We must see in it an 
ancient Hebrew legend or (to use Delitzsch's expression) a 
piece of * unassimilated mythology ' the intention of which 
was to account for the origin of a supposed race of pre-hisioric 
giants (Comp. on Gen 6:3). It is well known, however, that 
theocratical magistrates as representations of God's judicial 
sovereignty are expressly called Elohim or gods (see Alexan- 
der p. 82: 1). And so the term sons of God or gods to repre- 
sent worshippers of God agrees first with the uniform teaching 
of the Bible that the origin of the human race is from one 
pair, and second, only with this rendering does the religious 
bearing of the text have any value. 



166 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

wickedness the catastrophe of the Deluge was vis- 
ited upon the old world. 

When the sons of Abraham and Isaac were to 
be married, the question of the proper person to 
be selected, was a matter of no little solicitude. 
Had thej been governed by a worldly policy an 
alliance with some of the princes among whom 
they were located would have seemed wisdom. It 
would apparently have made their residence 
among them safe and pleasant. But then the 
patriarchs saw that the result would have been to 
have gone down to their level. Lot's family be- 
came like those among whom they dwelt, copied 
their standard of morals and came near sharing 
in their destruction. With the determination 
therefore to keep free from idolatry and its evil 
practices, Abraham proposed to send his servant 
— supposed to be Eliezer of Damascus (15:2) — 
to Mesopotamia to seek a wife among his kindred 
for his son (ch. 24). He believed the Lord would 
send his angel and prosper the errand of his faith- 
ful servant. But if the one sought would not come, 
Isaac was not to go there to live (v. 7, 8). Doubt- 
less at the age of forty, he had been consulted in 
this matter and was willing to abide by a decision 
which was prompted by religious rather than car- 
nal notions. He must have seen those in sur- 
rounding tribes that would have attracted the 
eye — ^but with him as with his father and the faith- 
ful Eliezer there was a disposition to abide the 
guidance of the good providence of God. His 



THE FAMILY 167 

religious character and the way he treated this 
matter is seen, when, near the expected time of the 
return of the camels, he went out into the field to 
meditate — a word associated in the Psalms with 
meditation on religious subjects (See Ps. 
119: 15, 23 and 27). In the same spirit that the 
servant asked to be guided in finding the one whom 
the Lord had appointed, he would hope and ask 
that the journey and the object of it might be 
blessed and terminated sucessfully. 

Jacob's quest in the same direction and for a 
similar object, was mixed up with the desire to es- 
cape from the wrath of his brother; but still the 
main object in his going must have seemed near a 
realization when he saw the beautiful Rachel and 
loved her with such ardor that the seven years of 
service for her, seemed but a few days. 

The space taken up with these narratives and 
the divine guidance involved, show that religious 
considerations and prayer for guidance should 
control our thought and action in this important 
step of life. 

It is difficult to leave this subject without a re- 
mark or two. 1. The primal law of marriage 
is not one evolved by man's experience, but one 
laid down by the Creator at the very beginning. 
It is one which man has been disposed to disobey ; 
but the experience of mankind, as well as the 
authority of Christ, which brings us back to this 
primal law, has proved to be the wisest and best. 

2. That if men acted on the conviction, that 



168 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

religious considerations should control their 
actions in this matter, and should seek divine 
guidance before entering upon such an intimate 
life union, there would be less disposition to dis- 
solve it by seeking a divorce. 

3. Literature and public sentiment need to be 
educated to see that love, like all other affections 
and impulses of our nature, is to be under the 
control of the divine will. Fancy and passion may 
be strong, but if wrong, they must be con- 
quered. Love at sight or the power of passion 
are not the polar stars, which are to indicate our 
course in life, as if the Fates or Cupid were our 
gods instead of the Lord of heaven and earth. 
Let love to him be first, and not love to the crea- 
ture. The bride sought in obedience to duty and 
to whose presence and home, the faithful servant, 
in answer to prayer was guided, became, though 
he had never seen her, the beloved wife of Isaac. 
A mother's loss, who had loved him as her only 
child and as the child of promise, was more than 
made good in this new relation. Our methods are 
different, but the underlying principle should be 
the same. And the result in life long happiness 
will mark heaven's approval. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE FAMILY— (2) THE TRAINING OF 
CHILDREN 

We have seen how in the primal law of marriage 
God had regard for the family, Ist, in guarding 
against promiscuous marriage as among beasts, 
which, according to some, was the condition of our 
ancestors ; and 2d, against polygamous marriage, 
which would have entailed envy, jealousy and mur- 
der as seen in the most favorable circumstances 
in the household of Jacob; or 3d, guarding 
against any method of concubinage or divorce. God 
honored the original bond, as in the case of Sarah 
and her son, instead of Hagar and Ishmael. 
Three times was the law of the sancity of marriage, 
which admitted of no trifling, much less of divorce, 
repeated to Abraham and Isaac. And Joseph 
stood by the rule, thus inculcated, even to im- 
prisonment under a false accusation. 

More directly with regard to the family, these 
three things show the importance of religion in 
that relation. 1st, the acceptance of the seal of 
the convenant. 2d, the position given to worship 
by the head of the household. 3d, the recognition 
of the duty of training children. 

ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEAL OF THE COVENANT 

1. With reference to the first, the acceptance of 

169 



170 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the seal of the covenant, it is not important whether 
that seal was something new and given to Abra- 
ham for the first time, or whether it had been in 
use among the Egyptians before this period. 
Baptism, as a rite and significant of cleansing, 
had been in use long before Christ set it apart, as 
connected with the Christian system. "Circum- 
cision was practised as early as the period of the 
2d dynasty (3998-3721 B. C. Petrie), and whence 
Herodotus declares that the custom spread to the 
Ethiopians, the Phoenicians and the Syrians of 
Palestine (i. e., the Jews)" (See Driver's Gen. p. 
189). The difficulty is to account for the intro- 
duction and continuance of such a rite. Driver 
suggests that it was an initiation into manhood. 
The age at which it was performed was seven 
to ten in Egypt, and among the Ishmaelites thir- 
teen, according to the age of their ancestor, when 
he received the rite. If this is the correct state- 
ment about circumcision among the nations, it 
was a very different thing as practised by the 
Jews. The time for its performance was in in- 
fancy — when the child was eight days old. And 
then it was a sign of a covenant. God on his part, 
promised to be a God unto them, and to give them 
the land of their sojoumings for an everlasting 
possession. In making the children partakers 
of the sign of the covenant, the idea was that they 
were included in the blessing promised to their 
fathers. Parents give their worldly possessions to 
their children and in this rite, God took hold of 



THE FAMILY 171 

the parental instinct and continues the blessing, 
and promises of religion to succeeding genera- 
tions. 

Another idea dwelt upon at a later period, was 
the spiritual import of circumcision, and that was 
the subjugation of carnal appetites to the divine 
law. The heart, as well as the body, was to be 
circumcised. 

As far, however, as the family was concerned, 
this rite drew the children into allegiance to the 
God of Israel. They were consecrated by the 
parents to his service and were to be co-partners 
in the blessings promised. 

WORSHIP IN THE HOUSEHOLD 

2, Another mark of family religion and of the 
fact that he was a worshipper of Jehovah was the 
prominence given to that worship, especially by 
Abraham, whenever he pitched his tent. He did 
so at his very first coming into the land of 
Canaan, when the Lord appeared unto him, 
(12: 7) and at his next removal repeated it, build- 
ing an altar and calling upon the name of the 
Lord (12:8). So also at Hebron (13:18) and 
at Beersheba, where he planted a grove and called 
on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God 
(21:33). It is significantly said of his first ap- 
pearance in this region, "and the Canaanite was 
then in the land" (12:6). In the midst of an 



m THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

idolatrous* people, Abraham comes with his com- 
pany of 1500 to 2000 persons, accompanied with 
their flocks and herds, and is especially distin- 
guished from the people by whom he was sur- 
rounded, as a worshipper of Jehovah — the living 
and true God. Abraham was the head of a 
nomadic tribe and could arm over three hundred 
men for war, but he was not a warrior, except 
when necessity required. He was not a mere 
herdsman — feeding and caring for his flocks, but 
the distinguishing feature of his life was that he 
believed in and worshipped an unseen God. An 
altar dedicated to him, was in the center of his 
encampment, and doubtless smoked with the burn- 
ing of the morning and evening sacrifice. Abra- 
ham acted as the head and priest of his family, 
and would, in this respect, be followed by the 
other patriarchs, as they followed his example 
in practising the rite of circumcision. For 
typical reasons a change was made in the priest- 
hood, limiting it to the family of Aaron. But 

* While it is evident that the majority of the Canaanites 
were idolaters, yet there were remains of a more correct faith. 
Melchisedek is called a priest of the most high God and 
seems from his age or position to have held a recognized 
supremacy over the surromiding chieftains (14: 18-20). 
Abimelech warned of God recognized who it was that ad- 
dressed him, calling him Lord and feeling that he could not 
destroy the righteous (20: 3). Abraham it is true feared that 
that knowledge of God was slight (5: 11). The degeneracy 
of Sodom showed that there at least, the fear of God had lost 
its practical effect. And as idolatory had crept into the fam- 
ily of Laban in the time of Rachel (31 : 19) so it seems to have 
made more positive inroads among the tribes of Canaan. 
Hence the need of new testimony on the part of Abraham 
before these natives were cut off. 



THE FAMILY 173 

the religious service of which the altar was the 
type, belongs in all generations, to the head of 
the family. He is the priest and leader in relig- 
ious thought and devotion in that little world of 
influence, which helps so mightily in building up 
religion in the Church and in the State. The 
example of Abraham is set before us as the rule 
for all families, and one of the ways, by which the 
clearer gospel brought through the seed of Abra- 
ham, is to bless all the families of the earth. 

FAMILY INSTRUCTION 

3. With regard to the direct training of chil- 
dren and servants, there is this statement on the 
part of Jehovah himself, "For I have known him 
to the end that he may command his children and 
his household after him, that they may keep the 
way of the Lord to do justice and judgment 
(18:19 R. v.). Abraham had already been 
twenty-five years in the promised land and what 
he had already done was evidence that he 
would continue in the same path of duty. There 
is a slight difference of meaning in the R. V. from 
the authorized, — the former emphasizing the fact 
that the purpose of God was to continue in Abra- 
ham's descendants a recognition of true religion 
in doing justice and judgment, by this family 
training. The hope for the perpetuity of religion 
from one generation to another, rested upon the 
proper care of parents in the government of chil- 
dren. The term command shows an authority on 



174 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the part of parents, which is not exercised, and 
not even thought of, by the majority of parents in 
these days. Government was patriarchal, which, 
in the family where love restrains undue authority, 
ought to be wise. The kind of training* exercised 
in the family, or household, outside of the children, 
was reflected in the servant, who was sent to Meso- 
potamia, to secure a wife for Isaac. His implicit 
reliance on divine guidance showed an amount of 
faith and trust which would have done credit to 
his master Abraham. This training of the house- 
hold has passed out of modern experience almost 
entirely. If, in our altered circumstances, the 
responsibility could be felt and acted upon that 
the religious condition of those employed or de- 
pendent upon us, rested upon the master or em- 
ployer, some of the evils which now threaten 
society might be averted. There is a proper 
Christian communism, where labor and capital, 
employer and employee, master and servant, meet 
on a common level, before the one Lord and 
Father of us all. This idea was set forth as well 
as it could be in that dispensation by servant and 
master sharing in the same religious rites and by 
the master feeling the responsibility and care of 
his household in instructing them as well as his 
children. 

*Some might think when Abraham took 318 trained ser- 
vants to rescue Lot, that the training was especially for war. 
But while such discipline may not have been neglected, other 
incidents show that another training was as carefully attended 
to, which would help in the service and worship of God. 



THE FAMILY 175 

It should, perhaps, be noticed that this refer- 
ence to family training is placed in connection 
with that remarkable destruction of the cities of 
the plain. As elsewhere in the Bible, there are 
twofold motives given for obedience — one by the 
blessings promised, and the other by punishment 
on disobedience. It was on this occasion that the 
birth of Isaac was definitely promised (18:9-15), 
when, according to human expectations, it seemed 
impossible. And, at the same time, by the de- 
struction of the cities of the plain (ch. 19), was 
enforced the lesson of Lot's mistaken choice in 
locating his family where the surroundings were 
favorable for the accumulation of property, but 
exceedingly bad for the training of his family; 
and where the lesson of destruction upon the 
wicked was so placed upon the borders of the 
promised land that it should be a constant re- 
minder to the children of Israel that however sin 
might prosper for a time, it would not go unpun- 
ished. 

Note. — In order to understand the destruction 
of the cities of the plain, it is not necessary to 
suppose that the Dead or Salt Sea had no ex- 
istence before the time of Abraham. Geologists 
affirm that it existed from early Tertiary times. 
(Dawson on "Science in Bible Lands," p. 481.) 
But that does not settle the question about its ex- 
tent or the subsidence of portions of its shores. 
Some think that the southern portion below the 
peninsula, which was only a depth of about thir- 



176 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

teen feet, whereas the northern end has an aver- 
age depth of over one thousand feet, is the site of 
these cities. Others think that the plain of the 
Jordan which Lot chose, and which could be seen 
from Bethel was the location. The bituminous 
condition of the soil, the presence of salt and sul- 
phur, and possibly earthquake changes in a region 
where they are so common, would account for the 
overthrow of those cities, as so vividly described 
by an apparent eye-witness: "The smoke of the 
country went up as the smoke of a furnace." 
(19:28). 



CHAPTER XV 

BEGINNINGS OF GRACE IN THE NATION 

In speaking of the beginning of things in grace, 
the plan was to speak of the beginnings of grace 
first in the individual, then in the family, and 
lastly in the nation. Logically this would have 
involved an attempt to follow the Jewish nation 
(1) in its deliverance from Egypt, (2) its period 
of instruction in the wilderness, and (3) their 
settlement in the land of promise. Such an at- 
tempt necessitated a survey of the remaining 
books of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua. 
As this would have required another volume, I 
content myself with stating some of the principles 
upon which such a survey would have been con- 
ducted. 

GOD THE AUTHOR OF REVELATION 

1. It has been a great satisfaction to reach the 
conclusion, that not only did God create the world 
and place man, whom he made in his image, to 
rule it, but that when he fell, he began a plan of 
salvation reaching through the ages — a plan 
whose fundamental principles are the same, and 
yet vary as the blossom differs from the fruit. 

CHANGES IN FORM OF WORSHIP 

2. The changes cluster around certain lines, 
which already appear in the treatment of the in- 

177 



178 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

dividual in Genesis. These changes appear espe- 
cially in sacrifice or the way of approach to God. 
(1) The first change was in the officer or priest. 
In Genesis it was the head of the family or tribe. 
Henceforth it was to center in one Great High 
Priest as the head of the nation and a type of the 
high priesthood of Christ. With him were to 
serve the members of his family as priests and the 
tribe of Levi as helpers to the priest. (2) 
Change in the victim or sacrifice was from an un- 
written to a written and elaborate code. Abel 
offered a lamb of the flock. Noah "took of every 
clean beast and of every clean bird and offered 
burnt offerings upon the altar" (Gen. 8: 20). In 
the Mosaic Dispensation different beasts or birds 
were assigned for different offences. The third 
change was in the erection of a tabernacle with 
its worship, instead of the now simple worship 
at an altar wherever the tent was pitched. This 
worship defined more clearly the method of ap- 
proach to God — first by the brazen altar the blood 
of the substitute, then the cleansing, and the 
golden altar in the holy place, before God, in his 
supreme essence and glory was revealed to the 
worshipper. These changes required one place 
of worship, one altar, one Sanctuary. This one 
Sanctuary was at first the Tabernacle, and then 
the Temple. An objection has been made that 
the Deuteronomic code inculcated one Sanctuary, 
and that this is post-exitic. But the one Sanc- 
tuary grew out of the change in the High Priest- 



GRACE IN THE NATION 179 

hood of Aaron and the laws respecting sacrifices, 
and belongs to Exodus. And these things Moses 
repeats at the close of his life, as he had, at the 
command of God, instituted them forty years 
before. That there should have been a return to 
the old method of family and tribal worship 
under Samuel, after the capture of the ark, and 
under Elijah and Elisha, when these prophets 
sought to bring back the ten tribes to the worship 
of the God of their fathers, was natural and ex- 
cusable. And then there is a tendency to increas- 
ing strictness in the observance of an outward 
form. Thus the Sabbath, reconsecrated at Sinai, 
was post-exitic in the strictness of its observance. 
Circumcision was Abrahamic, but the time for the 
rigid enforcement of the rite grew as the cen- 
turies passed. The same thing we should expect 
to be true about the one central Sanctuary. And 
so the facts of the case only confirm rather than 
overthrow the plain historical statement. 

TYPICAL CHARACTER OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

3. It is to be remembered that the typical 
character which was introduced in the book of 
Genesis is kept up through the whole Old Testa- 
ment history. Joseph was a type of Christ, and 
Moses claimed that a prophet of the New would 
be raised up, as he was a prophet of the Old. To 
one at all observant, it is surprising how often 
and constant these shadows and forecastings of 
the future appear in the details of worship and in 
the construction of the Tabernacle, as well as in 



180 THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 

the general course of God's providence. Christ 
himself has given us an example of the way in 
which Old Testament events are to be interpreted. 
Manna was a wonderful provision for the Jews 
in the wilderness, but it was more than that. It 
was a type of himself as the true bread (John 
6:41). Paul enlarges the same idea in its appli- 
cation to other things (as in 1 Cor. 10). With 
two such interpreters we are not to overlook the 
typical import of many things which, as simple 
history, are obscure. One or two examples will 
suffice. Canaan was a two-fold type (1) of the 
heavenly Canaan; (S) of the possession and sub- 
jugation of the world to Christ. In the literal 
conquest, thorough extermination of the inhab- 
itants and of idolatry was required. With dif- 
ferent weapons and with a higher end the spiritual 
subjugation should be carried on. Every knee 
must bow and every tongue confess. It is true 
that the purity of the nation and their separation 
from surrounding idolatry demanded severe meas- 
ures. But beyond was the thought of complete 
and thorough subjection to the King of Kings. 
And this subjection was anything but hard- 
hearted and cruel. Similar was the teaching of 
loyalty and obedience, in subsequent history. It 
demanded harsh acts in the literal and outward 
type. But the lesson was absolutely necessary. 
To obey was better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of lambs. And the teaching of that 
lesson, though it involved the hewing of Agag in 



GRACE IN THE NATION 181 

pieces, and the denunciation of enemies in the im- 
precatory psalms, should in no way detract from 
the character of God as loving and forgiving. 
David conquered his enemies to show that Christ 
would be victorious over all his foes — but when 
he thought to build a temple to God's praise he 
was not allowed to do it because he had been a 
man of war ; and it was left for his son — a man of 
peace, typifying the great peace given. God is 
just, but he delights in mercy. It was a just de- 
duction that a Jewish lawyer gave to Christ's 
enquiry about the teachings of the law. Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, mind and 
strength (Luke 10:25). Love him because he 
has shown him self a God of Love. 

The only correct and safe rule of Biblical inter- 
pretation is to follow the thought of God — the 
author of Revelation. If it be necessary in hu- 
man interpretation to follow the spirit of thought 
of the author — how much more so in a revelation 
from God, to have the spirit of God (See 1 Cor., 
2: 10) — which sympathizes with his plans and the 
methods he has used in making himself known 
to the children of men. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abraham, call of , 115 f., 125 
f . ; courage of, 133 ; faith 
of, 129; home of, 126; hos- 
pitality of, 131; head of 
tribe, 171; friend of God, 
132; forgiveness of, 133; 
journies of, 127 ; obedience 
of, 7, 129 ; parents of, 126 ; 
patience of, 130; prince of 
God, 133; priest, 172; trial 
of, 129; wife of, 127. 

Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 33. 

Abel, 69. 

Abimelech, 121. 

Adam, 39 ff. 

Adam, first and second, 69. 

Agag, 180. 

Allen, Dr. J., 35. 

Alter, 172, 178. 

Animals, clean and unclean, 
103. 

Animal life, 33. 

Antidiluvian, sins of, 100. 

Ape-like man, 43. 

Atmosphere, 26. 

Arabs, 132. 

Argyll, Duke of, 92. 

Ark, 95, 102. 

Babel, 107. 

Babylon, 106. 

Baptism, 170. 

Balaam, 4. 

Bethel, 127, 140. 

Bible, authorship, 9, 42; 
critics of, 16 f ; chronology 
of, 9; inspiration of I, 5; 
infallible, 4 f ; revelation I, 
and science, 12; unity of, 
6, 12 f; word of God I. 



Braested, 86. 

Brain development, of, 65. 

Buddhism, 15. 

Bunyan, 128. 

Cabell, Dr. 56. 

Cain and Abel, 69 f. 

Canaan, 134. 

Caucasian race, 55. 

Children Training of, 169 f. 

Children, 173. 

China, 14. 

Chinese Sacrifices of, 71. 

Chronology, 77, & 9 f . 

Chronology, Egyptian, 85. 

Chronology Babylonian, 85; 
Ushers, 85. 

Christ Joseph type of, 153. 

Circumcision, 118, 170. 

Clement, 5. 

Clay, Prof., 83. 

Coal beds, 29 f. 

Codrington, 110. 

Conscience, 47. 

Confucius, 14. 

Concubine, 161. 

Corruption, 51. 

Covenant People, 122. 

Covenant relation, 123. 

Covenant Seal of, 169 f. 

Creation, 3, 5, 21 fF; and 
Buddhism, 15; of man, 39 
f, 42 f; plan of, 34; pur- 
pose in, 34. 

Dana, 29, 33, 43, 45, 93, 94,95. 
Davis, 52. 
Dawson, 92, 175. 
Days in Genesis, 25. 
Dead Sea, 175 f. 



185 



186 



INDEX 



Dinah, 164. 

Driver, -21, 26, 49, 51, 53, 63, 

64, 73, S3, 97, 165, 14*. 170. 

Death, Physical, 65; spirit- 
ual, 65; eternal, 66. 

DocumentarT Theorr, 40. 

Duty, 47. ' 

Eden, 59. 
Election, 117. 
Enoch, 4, 76. 
Erosion, 50. 
Esau, 1-21. 

Ethnological Records, 105 f. 
European, 57. 
Evolution, So ff, 49, 51. 
Eve, Mother of all mankind, 
53. 

Fall, 6, 58 f, 50, 60 f, 69. 
Faith, 70. 

Fairbanks, 103. 

Family, 160, 169: instruc- 
tion'. 173. 

Femander, 110. 

Flood, 16, 99 f ; Babylonian 
story of, 97; limited, 96: 
Universality of, 9S. 

Garden of Eden, 5S f. 

Geologv, SO. 

Glacial' Period, 44, 46, 91. 

Grace toward the Individual, 
115. 

Green, Prof., S5. 

God. Creator, -2, 49 ; charac- 
ter of, 7S ; fatherhood of, 53 ; 
truthfulness of, 6 f ; moral 
government of, 7 ; words of 
if, 6, 22: workis of if, 6, 
22. 

Guidance, 119. 

Guyot, 23. 

Haeckel, 25, 35. 
HaU, Wilford, 93. 
Hagar, 119. 

Hamilton, Sir William, 23. 



Hammurami Code, 137, 150. 
Haran, 157, US. 
Henrv. Matthew. 60. 
HiU's Theology, 7-2. 
Hindoo. 109. 
Holy Spirit, S. 
Hottentot, 57. 
Household, Worship in, 171; 

training of, 174. 
Hunger for God, 48. 
Huxley, 43. 

Idolatry, 14, 117 f. 
Individual, 147 ; responsibil- 
ity, 4S. 
Indians, 56. 
Inundation mud, 92. 
Inspiration, 1 flF; verbal, 4-2. 
Image of God, 49. 
Immortality, 4S, 63, 156. 
Isaac, 121,'l-23, 129, 136. 
Ishmael, 161. 

Jacob, 121 f: and Abraham, 
136: and angel, 145; and 
birthright, 13S; dream of, 
140: and Esau, 137, 143; 
falsehood of, 13-S; humility 
of, 144: and Laban, 141; 
and Leah, 141; liberality 
of, 142; the supplanter, 
137; and prayer, 133 f: 
vow of, 142. 

Jehovah, 41. 

Jesus, truthfulness of, 7 f ; 
character of, S: resurrec- 
tion of, S ; reign of, 14. 

Job, 4, 6. 

Josephus, 136. 

Joseph, 1-22, 147 ff; cheerful- 
ness of, 151; courage of, 
153; dreams of, 14S; sold 
into Egypt, 149: exalta- 
tion of, 154: forgiveness, 
152, 155 : his home life, 
14S; his home training, 
150; humiliation of, 151; 
religion of, 150: resigna. 



INDEX 



187 



tion of, 151; suiFering of, 
158; temptation of, 152; 
type of Messiah, 153. 

Kant, 82. 

Kawi Language, 110. 

Kent, 127. 

Knapp's Theology, 71. 

Laban, 121, 141, 143. 
Labor, 59. 

Land Depression of, 90. 
Land Creation of, 27 f. 
Lange, 109, 110. 
Lamech, 74, 76, 101. 
Leah, 162. 
LeConte, 28, 35, 36. 
Lemuria, 56. 
Lewis, 108. 

Life, author of, 23, 34; ani- 
mal and vegetable, 34. 
Light, 24. 

Likeness to God, 49. 
Lot, 127, 132, 175. 
Love, 181. 

Man Antiquity of, 43; broth- 
erhood of, 53; his com- 
munion with God, 48; 
creation of, 39 f, 42 f; 
created perfect, 63; when 
created, 80, 82; his place 
in creation, 34; before the 
flood, 87 f ; immortality of, 
47; moral being, 47 f; 
religious being, 47 f ; spirit- 
ual nature of, 46 f ; unity 
of, 53 f . 

Marriage, 54f, 130, 160f, 165; 
Abraham's violation of 
vows, 161; Christ view of, 
161; divine guidance in, 
168; of Isaac, 166; of 
Jacob, 167; Jacob's viola- 
tion of vows, 162; Joseph 
regard for, 164; origin of, 
160; primeval law of, 168. 

Matter, 22. 



Mastedon, 91, 94. 
Melchisdeck, 4, 117, 129. 
Menes, 86. 
Messianic promise, 118; 

prophecy, 104. 
Miracles, 12. 
Moral conflict, 66. 
Moral motive, 48. 
Moses mistakes of, 16. 
Mt. Gilead, 143. 
Mulanesian language, 110. 
Murder, 69 f. 
Myths, 5. 

Nahor, 127. 
Natural religion, 116. 
Nation grace in, 177. 
Nature human, 49. 
Naram-Sin, 85. 
Nimrod, 107. 
Noah, 4. 

Obedience, 59. 

Offering, 178; Offering, 

Cain'3, 72. 
Old Testament typical, 179. 
Orr, Dr., 46, 80. 
Ought, 47. 

Padan Aran, 140. 

Paliolithic Man, 44. 

Pantheism, 23. 

Pasteur, 25. 

Patriarchs, 122. 

Paul, 137. 

Peloubet, 127. 

Penuel, 143. 

Petrie, 86. 

Polygamy, 101. 

Population before the flood, 

98. 
Prayer, 135. 
Presturch, Prof., 92. 
Priest, 178; 

high, 179. 
Promise the first, 66. 
Prophecy, 11. 
Protevangelism, 66. 



188 



INDEX 



Providence, 3, 152. 
Psalm Imprecatory, 13. 
Punishment, 62. 
Pyramids, 111. 

Race beginning of, 56; dis- 
tribution of, 56 f, 106; 
from God, 158; unity of, 
55, 108. 

Rachel, 162. 

Rain, 58 f. 

Reason, 47. 

Rebekah, 139. 

Redway and Himman's Geo- 
graphy, 44. 

Revelation and Grace, 3; 
method of, 4f; God author 
of, 158, 177; unity of, 157. 

Sabbath, 39, 179. 

Sacrifice, 67, 123; human, 

71 ; institution of, 2, 3. 
Salvation, 3. 
Sancrit, 109. 
Sayce, 127. 
Savage, 48. 
Science and the Bible, 2 ; and 

revelation, 21, 59. 
Serpent, 60. 
Seth, 75. 

Sin, 78 f; origin of, 51. 
Sons of God, 76, 165. 
Speech, 47, 107. 
Spiritual nature, 48. 
Spontaneous generation, 25, 

28, 35. 



Stanley, 125, 131. 

Stars, 31. 

St. Augustine, 25. 

Substitution, 70. 

Succession, 34. 

Subjection of all nations, 179. 

Suffering and Ebcaltation, 158. 

Tabernacle, 2, 178. 
Tablets, 112. 
Temple, 2, 178. 
Tertiary period, 45. 
Theist and Evolutionist, 35. 
Thompson, Sir William, 28. 
Tongues confusion of, 105. 
Townsend, Prof., 88, 98. 
Transmission, 34. 
Trench, 108. 
Truth, 6 f. 
Tyndall, 35. 

Unity of mankind, 53 f. 
Ur of Chaldees, 126. 

Vegetable Life, 28, 58. 
Von Humboldt, 110. 

WaUace, Alfred, 32, 91. 
Whately, Dr., 86. 
Whitney, Prof., 110. 
Winchell, Prof., 46. 
World, 31. 

World before the Flood, 89. 
Worship, 171; forms of, 177. 
Writings early, 112. 



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